Catholic Missionary being Entertained by Head of Village, Sogno, Kingdom of Kongo, 1740s
The village head or chief (mani) and the Capuchin missionary are seated on stools in front of a house; villagers bring provisions, presumably gifts for missionary. One of the Africans is kneeling, holding a cross. Caption notes that the head of the village has offered a house to the missionary for the period of his stay in the village; only the village head and missionary are allowed to sit; the man kneeling with the cross is the interpreter. This source in Italian is a modern printing of a 1747 manuscript (located in the Biblioteca Civica of Turin) which describes Capuchin expeditions to the Kingdom of Kongo. The watercolor paintings record moments in the daily lives of missionaries Bernardino Ignazio and Gaspare da Bassano, who were resident in Sogno from 1743-1747. Sogno (Sonyo in English) was a province of the kingdom. The illustrations and accompanying manuscript were done by Ignazio. (Thanks to James Sweet for assistance in interpreting the source.)
Image Title
Catholic Missionary being Entertained by Head of Village, Sogno, Kingdom of Kongo, 1740s
RegID
SI-OB-682
Date
1740-1750
Title
Catholic Missionary being Entertained by Head of Village, Sogno, Kingdom of Kongo, 1740s
Source
Paola Collo and Silvia Benso (eds.), Sogno: Bamba, Pemba, Ovando e altre contrade dei regni di Congo, Angola e adjacenti (Milan: published privately by Franco Maria Ricci, 1986), p. 181.
Language
Italian
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--West Central North
Reproduced In
Paola Collo and Silvia Benso (eds.), Sogno: Bamba, Pemba, Ovando e altre contrade dei regni di Congo, Angola e adjacenti (Milan: published privately by Franco Maria Ricci, 1986), p. 181.
Researchers
Handler, Jerome; Tuite, Michael; Randall Ericson; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Identifier
sogno181