Why this Black Woman and White Woman Have Symbols On Their Faces

Decoding a rare painting with a lesson to impart

British School Allegorical Painting of Two Ladies wearing Beauty Patches (c.1650s) by unknown artist. Oil on canvas. 64 × 75 cm. Image courtesy of UK.gov

Here’s a rare and intriguing painting. It shows two women in a double portrait. One is Black, the other is white.

Their postures and station appear in parallel. They look out to us side-by-side, both with the same high fashion, wearing pearl necklaces and finely-woven dresses.

Two aspects of this painting are notable from the beginning. The first is that both women are wearing distinctive “patches” — small decorative shapes on their cheeks and foreheads. The shapes of these patches are of astronomical motifs like crescent moons and stars.

The other notable aspect is the representation of a Black sitter with equal status to a white sitter. In truth, the appearance of Black people in 17th century art was rare, and on the occasions when they were represented they tended to be in a deferential position, as a child or a servant.

Here the two women are presented as companions and equals, which accords with the fact that not every 17th century Black person or person of colour was in a subservient position: there are notable examples of people of colour who were socially integrated into northern European cities and who occupied high status and rank. Moreover…