Black is Beautiful

Dutch and foreign museums house a hidden treasure of masterworks depicting black Africans who have played a major role in painting for centuries. Almost all the great masters have portrayed black people at some time or another. In recent years a study has been made of these works for an exhibition at the Nieuwe Kerek (New Church) Amsterdam. This has now been incorporated into an appealing collection of essays written by leading authors and specialists. The writings cover black people at Europe's courts, the black king in Rembrandt's painting "The Adoration", black mythological figures, Africans in genre paintings, black people in the Netherlands, the changing role of black people from the nineteenth century on, and Africans in work by contemporary artists. Each of the 140 works in the exhibition are also looked at in great details, thus making the book a handsome survey on the portrayal of black people in the Lowlands between 1330 and 2008.