feminhistory:

Oil on canvas, previously attributed to Johann Zoffany, 1779;

Dido Elizabeth Belle is depicted here with her cousin Elizabeth Murray. This painting scandalised many of it’s 18th century audience due to its portrayal of Belle, a woman of colour, in a non-subservient position. Considered to be one of the first paintings to do so, it was probably commissioned by Belle’s father Admiral Sir John Lindsay in the late 1770’s. 

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