Jaspar Beckx
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This is the central painting in a set of three paintings. According to inscriptions on the back of the paintings, they depict the Emissary of Congo, Don Miguel de Castro and his servants, Pedro Sunda and Diego Bemba. All three are dressed in accordance with Portuguese fashion; the servants are showing gifts they have brought or received. In 1643 or 1644 they arrived as part of a delegation sent by the ruler of Sonho, a province of Congo, via Brazil to The Netherlands. One objective of the journey was to find a resolution to an internal conflict in Congo. The three portraits may have been painted in Brazil by Jaspar Beckx, who did a number of paintings of Brazil scenes for the Dutch governor Johann Moritz of Nassau. In 1654 Johann Moritz gave these paintings to the Danish King Frederick III. The paintings were exhibited at the Royal Kunstkammer alongside other paintings and objects relating to the colonies.
We present today's painting thanks to the Statens Museum for Kunst. : )
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