Pedro Sunda
Unknown artist
1641-1645
The African man looks backwards. His attention is directed towards something outside of the picture frame. He almost seems to be trapped between his own cast shadow and a diagonal shadow cast from a high window that we cannot see. The shadows on the wall create an illusion of space and imbue the composition with a strongly dynamic interplay between diagonals. Clear-cut and obvious, the cast shadows add an element of sombreness and drama to the painting An inscription on the back of the painting informs us that we are looking at a portrait of Pedro Sunda, who was a servant of the Congolese envoy Don Miguel de Castro. Portraits of named servants from Africa are rare within art history. Pedro Sunda was part of a delegation that sought for aid in order to resolve territorial unrest in their home country.
SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen · Image: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Public domain · Text: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark (text: Eva de la Fuente Pedersen) (adapted), CC0