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Don Miguel de Castro, Emissary of Kongo
Jaspar Beckx, c. 1643;
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
The history of the Christian kingdom of Kongo from the conversion of Nzinga a Nkuwu (King João I) in 1491 to its effective abolition in 1914 is a rich and turbulent one.

During the 1640s, a conflict arose between Kongo’s pious and militarily successful King Garcia II and his vassal, the Count of Sonho. Seeking the help of the Dutch Republic and its stadtholder, the Count sent his cousin, Dom Miguel de Castro, to the Netherlands as an emissary.

Dom Miguel arrived at Flushing in June 1643 and proceeded to Middelburg where he was received by the Zealand chamber of the Dutch West India Company.

During the Kongo nobleman’s fortnight in Middelburg, the chamber commissioned these portraits of Dom Miguel and his two servants painted by Jasper Becx — or possibly by his brother Jeronimus.

The Zealand chamber gave the trio of portraits to Johan Maurits — Prince of Nassau-Siegen, governor of Dutch Brazil, and originator of the Mauritshuis — who in 1654 gave them to Frederik III of Denmark, along with twenty Brazilian paintings by Albert Eckhout.

A full-length portrait of Dom Miguel was taken back to Africa by him and, alas, is now lost.

Diego Bemba, a Servant of
Dom Miguel de Castro
Jaspar Beckx, c. 1643;
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
Pedro Sunda, a Servant of
Dom Miguel de Castro
Jaspar Beckx, c. 1643;
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Diego Bemba and Pedro Sunda, servants of Dom Miguel de Castro

https://www.smk.dk/en/highlight/don-miguel-de-castro-emissary-of-kongo-c-1643/

https://www.africamuseum.be/en/discover/history_articles/kongo-kingdom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Dom_Miguel_de_Castro,_Emissary_of_Congo

Published at 3:45 pm on Thursday 21 September 2023. Categories: Art History Tags: , , .
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