Laitière et négresses portant du lait

"Milkmaid and Negro Women Carrying Milk" (caption translation). This engraving shows a group of women standing in front of thatched-roof shack with pots and bowls on their head, while a woman kneels before a cow. Benoit explained that "milk and milk products are provided by elderly missies who own cows. These women then have their milk peddled or hawked by their own slaves, young black or creole women" (p. 37). Pierre Jacques Benoit (1782-1854) was a Belgian artist, who visited the Dutch colony of Suriname on his own initiative for several months in 1831. He stayed in Paramaribo, but visited plantations, maroon communities and indigenous villages inland.

Image Title

Laitière et négresses portant du lait

RegID

SI-OB-948

Date

1831

Title

Laitière et négresses portant du lait

Source

"Figure 66" in Pierre Jacques Benoit, Voyage à Surinam; description des possessions néerlandaises dans la Guyane (Bruxelles: Société des Beaux-Arts de Wasme et Laurent, 1839).

Language

French

Item sets

Miscellaneous Occupations & Economic Activities

Spatial Coverage

South America--Suriname--Paramaribo

Researchers

Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May

Last Updated

20-Dec-11; 4-Sep-19

Identifier

BEN3