LONDON.- Recently discovered in Australia, this is an exciting addition to Joan Carlile’s oeuvre and a crucial contribution to the study of Black subjects in British art.

Carlile was one of the first professional female painters working in Britain and her position within the narrative of British art is only now beginning to emerge. During her lifetime she was named, alongside Mary Beale, in a list of notable ‘Modern Masters’ in Sir William Sanderson’s Graphice, and enjoyed the patronage of prominent society figures. However, she soon slipped into art historical obscurity and it was only in the mid-twentieth century that her name was reinserted in the canon of British art studies.

With only thirty to forty known works by her hand, this painting’s format is unusual for Carlile, showing a lady with a Black attendant. She based the figure of the attendant on Aegidius Sadeler II’s engraving after Titian’s Portrait of Laura Dianti (late 1520s), one of the first formal European portraits to include an enslaved African person. Sadeler’s print circulated widely by the 1640s, and Carlile likely studied a copy of it owned by her collector friend, the Earl of Dysart.

The inclusion of a Black attendant in Carlile's picture reflects the period’s evolving visual language, shaped by Britain’s expeditions and overseas empire. Although this work predates Britain’s dominance in the Atlantic slave trade, Carlile was responding to the growing desire to depict Black figures in portraiture as foils for white wealth and beauty.

The print’s relevance today remains striking. The depiction of Black subjects in both historical and contemporary images has been heavily explored in recent years. Most notably, contemporary artist Barbara Walker features this very same print in her series Vanishing Point (2018-), in which she isolates and meticulously renders the Black figures in classical paintings from major public collections.

This dialogue between past and present informs the study of the Black figure in British art and speaks to ongoing questions of representation and visibility.