Erased and Restored

 

Unknown artist, Frey siblings, 1837 

Circa 1837 painting of 3 Frey children in Louisiana and mystery boy (theadvertiser.com)

This portrait of three children from a family in Louisiana has an interesting and not all that uncommon history.  Painted in 1837, it originally contained four figures - the three white children from the Frey family and a tall African-American boy,  who at first sight looks like an older sibling

but who was in fact an enslaved domestic servant named Belizaire, then aged 15, according to  collector Jeremy Simien who now owns the painting. 

 
 Two decades later, Belizaire left the Frey household when sold on to the owners of Evergreen Plantation.     Some time after that, when the painting remained with the Freys, his image was painted over, presumably because slave owning ancestors had become an embarrassment.  

Belizaire remained invisible  when the picture -  attributed to  the artist J,G, Amans - was donated to the the New Orleans Museum of Art, and when it was de-accessioned.  The figure only returned to view when cleaned by a dealer and then offered for sale.

It's odd really, because the four figures balance the composition, and apart from skin colour, there's no indication that the tall young man is not an eldest brother.