CHARLES-MELCHIOR DESCOURTIS, French, 1753-1820;
after JEAN FREDERIC SCHALL, French, 1752-1825
Paul and Virginie, 5
color aquatint, 1795
The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, 2001.9.8

Disillusioned with life in Europe, Virginie is rejected by her aunt, who had tried to force her to marry against her will, and sent back to the Ile de France. But within sight of the island a storm wrecks the ship and she drowns. The narrator of the story and the slave Domingue have found her body washed ashore.

Domingue's strong back offers a vivid depiction of his profound grief. The violence of the stormy sea and sky echoes his torment. While wind rips through the scene, he remains grounded in his sorrow. As a loyal servant, and almost a part of the family, Domingue laments with the narrator over the death of his mistress.

But Domingue's presence in the barren landscape is too powerful and ambivalent to be subsumed into the narrative. Is Domingue here a loyal servant, or a rebel slave?

Pamela Whedon