The Chamber of a Free man of color

"The Chamber of a Free man of color". Acrylic on canvas 16 x 12, Available.

My latest masterpiece is titled "The Chamber of a Free man of color". The inspiration for this painting came from a wonderful late 18th century miniature on ivery of a Free man of color from Saint-Domingue, now present day Haiti. The other inspiration for the painting is from a late 18th century Louisiana bedroom chamber of a free woman of color.  The painting shows a well appointed circa 1790's bedroom chamber of a wealthy Louisiana free man of color. The focal point of the painting shows a 18th century Free man of color gentleman fashionably dressed in burgundy jacket, silk embroidered vest and gray satin breeches with buckled shoes. 

late 18th century miniature on ivery of a Free man of color from Saint-Domingue, now present day Haiti. Note the wonderful gray painted carved Boiserie Paneling behind the gentleman. From the: Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien.

Miniatures of Toussaint Louverture & his family, Isaac Louverture, Placide Louverture &  Claire Joséphine de Lacaze.From the: Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien

Late 18th century New Orleans collage painting, showing a dark skin Creole Free woman of color with her mix race Free man of color gentleman friend. Note the elegant furnishings and bed covered in French Toile de Jouy fabric. 

 Not all creole of color were mix race as some people believe. Creole come in all colors and hues. Under Spanish rule (1763-1803) in Louisiana a new law called coartación, which allowed slaves to buy their freedom, and that of others help to add to Louisiana's population of Free Creoles of color. The free people of color of Louisiana were on average exceptionally literate, with a significant number of them owning businesses, properties, and even slaves.

A late cream painted Neoclassical French Louis XVI style bedstead hung and draped in striped fabric.

He is standing in front of a French Louis XVI style bedstead hung and draped in striped fabric. Overhead is a hanging Glass Bell Jar Lantern. He is standing next to a mohangay Creole cabriole leg table holding a blue and white porcelain veilleuse. Also known as a nightlight teapot. These were used in the 18th to mid 19th c. A candle in the bottom kept tea warm & acted as a nightlight. Apparently it became popular when Napoleon (who didn't like to sleep in the dark) used them in his tent. 

A Late-18th century Louisiana turned mulberry Slat-Back Side Chair with rush seat.

A mohangay Creole cabriole leg table.

Also on the table is a tea cup, silver spoon and brass Louis XV style candlestick. To the left of the gentleman is a Late-18th century Louisiana turned mulberry Slat-Back Side Chair with rush seat. Imported French furniture from Europe include the circa 1755 French ormolu-mounted Japanese lacquer secretaire-à-abattant to the right of the bed.

Circa 1755 French ormolu-mounted Japanese lacquer secretaire-à-abattant.

Lacquered objects are among the most highly treasured works of Asian art. Multiple, complex layers of lacquer are used to decorate the surfaces of screens, boxes, dishes, cabinets and small objects imparting a distinctive appearance that is also pleasantly tactile. With a history of production in Japan and China dating back to 5000 BCE, lacquerware began to be exported to Europe in the mid-16th century, where such objects were desired due to their uniqueness and great beauty. In the 17th century, European craftsmen began integrating panels removed from Asian lacquered screens into new pieces of furniture like the secretaire-à-abattant.

A framed portrait of a young slave in republican suit of the French Revolution. 

Hanging over the secretaire-à-abattant is a framed portrait of a young slave in republican suit of the French Revolution. This is a portrait of a young black servant wearing a silver necklace of servitude, a three-colored (French) dress, and a hat with the republican cockade. By voting for the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August 1789, the National Assembly proclaimed: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” However, the question of slavery and the slave trade was little discussed in the debates and slavery in French colonies remained a cruel reality. It was not until the law of 16th Pluviôse the year II (on February 4, 1794) that the Republic granted full freedom to its former slaves.Even before 1789 critics had attacked the slave trade and slavery in the colonies.

France had several colonies in the Caribbean, the most important of which was Saint Domingue (later called Haiti). There were 500,000 slaves there in 1789 and they provided the labor for sugar, coffee, and cotton plantations. The behavior of slaves and the actions of slave owners in the colonies was regulated by a series of royal edicts, called the Code Noir, or slave code. The National Convention (the more radical assembly of the Jacobins that replace the Legislative Assembly in France) finally voted to end slavery in all the French colonies on February 4, 1794. Thousands of whites fled the island, and even the Mulattoes were not pleased. Many owned slaves themselves and were opposed to the move.

A giltwood Louis XVI mirror. 

a giltwood Louis XVI carved marble top console. 

 A Dutch Delft tobacco jar.

To the left of the bad is a late 18th century Neoclassical giltwood Louis XVI carved marble top console with Louis XVI style mirror. On the console is a Dutch Delft tobacco jar. 16 x 12.

"The Chamber of a Free man of color". Acrylic on canvas 16 x 12, Available.

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"Gumbo YA YA" a 18th century Creole New Orleans kitchen

Gumbo YA YA by Andrew LaMar Hopkins

"Gumbo YA YA" my latest finished painting is the third in a  series of Louisiana Creole kitchen paintings. Each painting has sold before i was finished painting it. Including this one. The first Creole kitchen painting was a commission. I was a little hesitant to paint it as I did not consider the kitchen a fine room of a house like my parlor or bedroom paintings. But once I started painting them. I have really got into thyme, each new kitchen painting is better then the other.  The kitchen is a room that just about everyone can relate too.  18th and 19th century kitchens were fascinating room filled with interesting cooking apparatus. 

 The lady of the house A Free woman of color has a pearl choker on and wears a tignon a type of headscarf, she gestures to a fashionably dressed Free man of color enjoying a flute of Dom Perignon champagne. 

This painting titled after the famous book by the same name that chronicles Louisiana folk tales and customs. The painting Gumbo YA YA! shows a 18th century New Orleans Creole kitchen. Owned by Free people of color, the lady of the house to the right hand corner of the painting has a pearl choker and wears a tignon a type of headscarf, a large piece of material tied or wrapped around the head to form a kind of turban that somewhat resembles the West African gélé. It was worn by Creole women in Louisiana beginning in the Spanish colonial period, and continuing to a lesser extent to the present day. She gestures to a fashionably dressed Free man of color enjoying a flute of Dom Perignon champagne. 

A quadroon house servant get's ready to pour Dom Perignon champagne into two crystal champagne flute's in anticipation of the meal of seafood gumbo being dished out of a large copper pot into a Louis XV porcelain soup tureen by the cook. 

A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved. In the United States, such persons were referred to as "free Negroes," though many were of mixed race (in the terminology of the day, mulattos, generally of European and African descent).

Free people of color or in French "gens de couleur libres" was especially a term used in New Orleans and the former Louisiana Territory, where a substantial third class of primarily mixed-race, free people developed. There were also free people of color in Caribbean and Latin American slave societies. These colonial societies classified mixed-race people in a variety of ways, generally related to appearance and to the proportion of African ancestry.

 A fashionably dressed mulatto boy holds a flower garland up to his dog. He is wearing a gray satin sailor suit tied at the wast with a pink gold fringe sash. French Queen Marie Antoinette was one of the first parents to dress her children in sailor suit's. A fashion that continued well into the 20th century. The potted orange tree was a symbol of wealth in the 18th century.

The center piece of the room is the elevated stuccoed bricked stove. Firewood would have been stored in the arches beneath the platform. A fire would have been started on the top platform for cooking. Smoke would have been vented up in the pyramid top flute and out of the kitchen.  Over the stove is a wrought iron chandelier.  

To show the Roman Catholic culture of Colonial Louisiana next to the stove is a copy of a bust of Christ by Italian artist Guido Reni. In the 18th century copies of famous paintings were not considered  valuable. The gold leaf frames were considered more costly then the painting.

A quadroon house servant get's ready to pour Dom Perignon champagne into two crystal champagne flute's in anticipation of the meal of seafood gumbo being dished out of a large copper pot into a Louis XV porcelain soup tureen by the cook. A fashionably dressed mulatto boy holds a flower garland up to his dog. He is wearing a gray satin sailor suit tied at the wast with a pink gold fringe sash. French Queen Marie Antoinette was one of the first parents to dress her children in sailor suit's. A fashion that continued well into the 20th century. 

The buffet a deux corps. The name is literally translated to “buffet with two bodies”, which provided an ingenious type of storage and sometimes display case in the upper part, plus it was able to be split into its component parts making it much easier to transport and deliver into the narrow doorways of homes of past centuries. 

The boy is standing next to a terracotta potted orange tree a symbol of wealth in the 18th century. Although furniture was being made locally in 18th century Louisiana, finer households had locally made French style Creole furniture mixed with imported furniture from Europe like the buffet a deux corps. The name is literally translated to “buffet with two bodies”, which provided an ingenious type of storage and sometimes display case in the upper part, plus it was able to be split into its component parts making it much easier to transport and deliver into the narrow doorways of homes of past centuries. 

Other imported furniture in the kitchen include the the Provincial tall case clock and the turned legged work table in the center of the room. Locally made Creole pieces of furniture would include the ladder back chair and the cabriole leg table holding the copper water cistern. The center piece of the room is the elevated stuccoed bricked stove. Firewood would have been stored in the arches beneath the platform. A fire would have been started on the top platform for cooking. Smoke would have been vented up in the pyramid top flute and out of the kitchen.  Over the stove is a wrought iron chandelier.  

On the shelf of the pyramid flute of the stove, displayed are 18th century French pottery and beautiful hand-painted faience and ceramics that were instant sources of pride for the local populace and a large green glass wine jar. To show the Roman Catholic culture of Colonial Louisiana next to the stove is a copy of a bust of Christ by Italian artist Guido Reni. In the 18th century copies of famous paintings were not considered  valuable. The gold leaf frames were considered more costly then the painting.  A collection of copper pots and pans are displayed on the walls. Two French olive jars were used for food storage. On the top of the buffet a deux corps are woven baskets. The architecture of the rooms features a terracotta tile floor. A beamed ceiling showing the upper cypress floor. A French door. The walls are painted a light French blue popular in the 18th century.  

Latest artwork delivered to the Gallery today

Latest artwork delivered to the Gallery today

Mobile Free boy of color

Tonight is the Christmas Artwalk here in Mobile, Alabama, All of the Art Gallery's downtown are open late tonight. I was suppose to finish 7 paintings by today but only finished 3 oh well. I was happy to find out while I was installing my painting at the Gallery that I had sold one titled " Mobile Free boy of color" I have a early blog about him. The three new paintings from the top down "Greek Revival Gentleman", "18th century New Orleans", and "Alabama Camellia Belle.

Greek Revival Gentleman

Detail of Greek Revival Gentleman

"Greek Revival Gentleman", shows a dapper Free man of color standing outside of a Greek Revival town house from the 1840's period. He is fashionably dress with Top hat and stick. The lavender stucco Town house sits on a brownstone foundation with oval cast iron air vents. The Quincy granite steps sports classical cast iron urns with nicely manicured kumquat topiaries.  The deeply set panel Greek Revival doorway has decorative anthemion details on the top.

18th century New Orleans

18th century New Orleans

"18th century New Orleans", depicts a New Orleans Creole aristocrat from the period of French Queen Marie Antoinette standing on her French Quarter balcony holding a exotic parrot. She is dressed in a style fashionable of the 1780's. A mid-night blue satin dress with turban head dress sporting a feather. She is holding on to a Baroque style wrought iron balcony fashionable in New Orleans with Spanish iron smiths in the late 18th century. The decorative stucco building features classical pilasters and door surrounds. On the balcony is a potted orange tree a symbol of wealth.

Alabama Camellia Belle

Detail of Alabama Camellia Belle

"Alabama Camellia Belle" Shows a Alabama Belle in a Romantic Garden with two large Old World style Terracotta Pots with white & red stripe Camellia bushes. The Camellia flower is the state flower of Alabama. The Southern Belle has a ball gown of the 1840's period covered in red Camellias. She is standing on flagstone payment under a Classical Greek Revival wrought iron arbor.   

Greek Revival Dandies!!!

Greek Revival Dandy # 1

Sorry for the time I have been away. I have been so busy. I got into a Co-op Art Gallery. We had a grand opening last Friday. I have been busy down to the last min working on art and my space in the Gallery. Hopefully I can get part 3 of Hurricane Katrina out this week. I'm working on a series of paintings called "Greek Revival dandies" Here are one and two of a twenty part series. In each painting I show a fashionably dress young beau's in front of a Neoclassical Federal or Greek Revival doorway.

Greek Revival Dandy # 2

                                                                                    

"Mobile Free boy of color"

"Mobile Free boy of color"

This painting shows a well dressed Mobile Free boy of color holding a orange a symbol of wealth in front of a brightly painted stucco Federal home in the style of Asher Benjamin and Minard Lafever both influential American architects of churches and houses in the United States in the early nineteenth century. The stucco building having Ionic plasters, painted cast iron window and door cornices. The Faux finished paneled door is painted cypress to look like Mahogany and birds eye Maple a popular combination at this time in Faux wood. A nice geometric Neoclassical inspired transom over the door. A granite door step, slate foundation stone and flagstone sidewalk imported to Mobile from the North. The carved cypress cornice molding is hung with flower festoon. Mobile unlike other towns in the South had a large amount of free people of color due to it's French & Spanish past just like it's sister city New Orleans. Although this is not a exact building in Mobile, Alabama. Mobile would have had very slimier building like this with some of American's top architects arriving into the city at this time, James Dakin and Gallier.

My latest work "Alabama French Creole"

This is a well appointed bedroom of a Alabama French Creole in the period of the mid 19th century. Most people would not think of Alabama being Creole but Mobile began as the first capital of colonial French Louisiana in 1702. Before New Orleans was founded in 1718. This late 1840's bedroom shows the latest fashion of "French Antique furniture from the warerooms of Prudence Mallard. Born in France Mallard was guild-trained in his native country in the Rococo Revival style. In the 1829 he emigrated to the United States. And in 1830's he opened a shop in New Orleans. The American Rococo Revival rosewood single-door armoire & duchesse, a marble top dressing table for which Mallard is noted for. Over the mantel is a gold gilt large French mid 19th century Rococo Revival mantel mirror. On the mantel a pair of Old Paris porcelain green and gilt trumpet shaped vases with camellias in them, The state flower of Alabama. The portrait or Christ over the duchesse dressing table is Spanish Colonial in a Baroque gold gilt frame. The architecture of the room is Greek Revival with a Faux grained mantel painted to look Black Egyptian gold vain marble. The plaster cornice molding is plain with blue painted walls.