Portrait of Zeno Oreno from Guadeloupe, 1854
Oil on canvas, on plywood
Dimensions without frame50,2 × 39,4 cm
Dimensions with frame61,2 × 51,5 × 5,2 cm
Status
on display, room 010.2 About the workLittle is known about Zeno Oreno. He travelled around Germany in the 1850s, including a visit to Düsseldorf, where he was painted by the Swedish art student Ferdinand Fagerlin. Various artists made portraits of Oreno, thereby immortalising his name. Slavery had been abolished in his homeland of Guadeloupe in 1848, so Black people were free, at least in the legal sense. Some sources indicate that he travelled as a free citizen. This was rare: in Europe during this period, people from colonial countries were often presented in an inhumane manner in circuses or so-called human zoos.
AccessionAcquisition 2017
Provenance[...]; 15.3. 2017 angekauft vom Kunsthandel C.A. Oosterhout, Den Haag
Inventory numberM 2017-1