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Primary Source of the Month

"A Negroes Dance in the Island of Dominica," engraved by Agostino Brunias, London, England, ca. 1779. From the collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
"A Negroes Dance in the Island of Dominica," engraved by Agostino Brunias, London, England, ca. 1779. From the collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.


Italian painter Agostino Brunias traveled with Sir William Young, the first governor of Dominica, to the West Indies in 1770. From 1770 until his death in 1796, Brunias' work focused primarily on depictions of life on the islands of Dominica, St. Vincent, St. Christopher, and Barbados. Many of his original sketches, watercolors, and oil paintings were taken to England where they were redesigned and sold as engravings.

Brunias' 1779 print "A Negroes Dance in the Island of Dominica" shows a group of Dominicans who have gathered to participate in music and dancing. On the left side of the image, a drummer and tambourine player provide the music. The seated musician is plays a large barrel drum. At the center of the image, dancers perform the "calinda," a dance particular to the West Indies that blends European dance forms with African interpretation. The remaining group members enjoy the music, watch the dancing, and converse with one another. The tree in the background is probably a mango.

In this print, as in his other works, Brunias presents a European-centric, romanticized, and idyllic view of West Indian life—distorting the harsh realities of slave life in the Caribbean. Such scenes were most likely created for wealthy white patrons. The print also shows period clothing in extraordinary detail, including lavish materials in vibrant colors, and various styles of head wraps and kerchiefs, petticoats, bodices, breeches, and fashion accessories. Though somewhat stylized, the garments do reflect period fabrics, forms of dress, and ways of wearing various articles of clothing. Of particular interest and are the many styles of headwraps that are shown.

It is interesting to compare Brunias' print to "The Old Plantation," a ca. 1790–1800 watercolor by an unknown South Carolina artist. The two scenes share similar activities and arrangements of people, but the setting, clothing, musical instruments being played reflect slave life in post-Revolutionary War America.]



This article was written by Jodi Norman, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.