The Project
Colonial Networks: Re-Mapping the ‘Paris’ Art World (c. 1750-1830) is a research project focusing on a 1786 map of sugar and coffee plantations around the city of Cap-Français (now Cap-Haïtien) in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), known at the time as the “Paris of the Antilles.” Denoting land and slave ownership, the map is inscribed with the names of many high-profile members of the metropolitan Paris art world, like the comte de Vaudreuil, a prominent courtier and art collector, who was born on the island and whose father served as its governor. Our goal is to create a multifaceted digital project around this map to reveal largely unknown connections between colonial networks (and plantation ownership) and the production and consumption of art in metropolitan France.
Focusing on the periods before and after the French and Haitian Revolutions (1789 and 1791), we hope to uncover these hidden connections in two senses: first, by examining the commercial, colonial, and artistic activities of the elite white property owners whose names appear on these maps; and second, by exploring the contribution of the many unnamed individuals—most notably enslaved laborers—whose lives were inextricably linked to the buying and selling of art.
The Researchers
Meredith Martin is Professor of Art History at New York University and the Institute of Fine Arts.
Hannah Williams is Senior Lecturer in the History of Art at Queen Mary University of London.