The Black Sultan

Description

This portrait represents one of the pensionnaires (scholarship holders) of the French Academy in Rome, dressed in costume for the Masked Ball (Mascarade) held in 1748. The young man's face, painted with shoe polish to match the tone of the background, virtually disappears beneath the glitter of gold jewels, gleaming pearls, and the splendour of crimson plumes. In this darkened visage, only the eyes and lips shine forth. The sitter has been identified as the architect Jean Moreau, who was a pensionnaire at the Villa Medici from 1746 to 1752.