The focus here is largely on portraiture of people of African descent in European art of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, but also includes a few examples of specific figures (including Balthazar and St. Maurice) that are generally depicted as African.
For more, see Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe and People of Color in European Art History. There are additional articles at Africans in Art at the V&A.
- Drawing of a man by Albrecht Dürer, 1508
- John Blanke, a trumpeter at the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII
- Katharina by Albrecht Dürer, 1521
- Christophe le More by Jan Mostaert, c. 1525-1530
- Portrait of a Wealthy African, c. 1530
- Portraits of Alessandro de Medici by Cristofano dell'Altissimo (c. 1511-1537), Bronzino, Vasari (1534), and Pontormo (c. 1534-1535). See also Africans in medieval & Renaissance art: Duke Alessandro de' Medici and A View on Race and the Art World.
- Detail from the St. Lucy Altarpiece by Lorenzo Lotto, 1532
- Maria Salviati de' Medici with Giulia de' Medici by Pontormo, c. 1537
- Portrait of a man in armor with two pages by Paris Bordon
- Chafariz d’el Rey in the Alfama District (View of a Square with the Kings Fountain in Lisbon), c. 1570-1580
- Portrait of an African Slave Woman by Annibale Carracci, ca. 1580s
- Don Francisco de la Robe and His Sons Pedro and Domingo by Andrés Sánchez Gallque, 1599
- Portrait of a young black girl by Federico Zuccaro
- Portrait of a man, possibly a Moorish ambassador to the Venetian court by Domenico Tintoretto, c. 1600
- An African Man Wearing a Turban by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1609
- Four studies of a male head from the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1617-1620
- Juan de Pareja by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, 1650
Balthazar (one of the Three Kings)
The Magi/Three Kings are sometimes depicted in a way that has each king representing a different continent – Africa, Asia, and Europe. (The name “Balthazar” for the African king seems to be a later attribution.) See also Africans in medieval & Renaissance art: the three kings.
- Monforte Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes, c. 1470
- Epiphany by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1475-1480
- Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1487
- Adoration of the Kings by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, c. 1490
- Adoration of the Magi, a book of hours (MS. Douce 51, fol. 118v), c. 1490
- The Adoration of the Kings by Vincenzo Foppa, c. 1500
- Adoration of the Magi by Albrecht Dürer, 1504
- Adoration of the Magi by Juan de Flandes, c. 1508/1519
- Adoration of the Magi from the Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1510
- Adoration of the Kings, c. 1514
- Adoration of the Kings by Girolamo da Santacroce, c. 1525-30
- The Adoration of the Magi by Quentin Metsys, 1526
- The Adoration of the Kings by Jacopo Bassano, early 1540s
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