A Meeting of Connoisseurs
1798
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
About the artist
1798
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
A Meeting of Connoisseurs is a 1798 watercolor by John Boyne, a British Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
You see a group of skinny gentlemen in an artist's studio, surrounding a black model. The scene is a satire, making fun of how people admired black models at the time. This watercolour also shows how some artists copied each other's work, like Thomas Williamson who made an engraving of this scene. Check out the work of artist Boyne, John.
A watercolour by John Boyne from 1798 depicts five slender gentlemen in an artist’s studio examining a standing black male model, whose physique they appear to admire. The scene satirises the contemporary trend of collecting and praising black bodies as aesthetic objects.
Read the full account in the museum source.
