View on the River Roseau, Dominica
1770–80
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
84.1 × 158 cm (33 1/8 × 62 3/16 in.); Framed: 99.4 × 173.1 × 10.8 cm (39 1/8 × 68 1/8 × 4 1/4 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
79037
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this expansive view of Dominica, people along the riverbank bathe, wash linens, converse, and sell produce. The presence of indigenous Carib, African, Afro-Creole, European, and mixed-race individuals attests to the long history of white-settler colonialism in the West Indies, where valuable crops such as coffee and sugar were cultivated through the labor of enslaved people. The Italian-born artist Agostino Brunias settled on the island, painting scenes of Caribbean life for his planter-clas...