Join the Saint Louis Art Museum in celebrating a recent acquisition titled Domenica delle Cascine, la Cecca di Pratolino, and Pietro Moro, by Flemish artist Justus Suttermans on view in Gallery 236. This stunning painting features Pietro Moro, (Peter the Black), a Black servant alongside two European female servants. As one of the few representations of a named Black figure in European art before the 1800s, the Suttermans portrait joins Melchior Barthel, Bust of a Black Man, in the same period collection. These acquisitions are part of the Museum’s initiative to increase its representation of a non-white, Black presence in Western European art.
The painting, acquired in early 2021, is the second version of this work of art with the painting’s companion located at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Like too much of early history, very little is known about Pietro Moro. However, an individual with the term Moro was historically used as a designation of dark skin or African origin. Moro has been recorded as being within the Medici family’s inventories as well as in their account books for payments made to him. There also are two other surviving representations of Moro suggesting that he was placed in high regard within the Medici household.
In the Museum’s painting on view in Gallery 236, Pietro Moro stands out as the lead subject of the portrait, engaging with the viewer through his eyes and pose. The viewer sees Moro holding his hand in a gesture that would have been seen as humorous during 17th-century Florentine society as he reaches for something out of one of the women’s baskets, further adding to the engagement with the viewer. The portrait would have traveled with the Medici family and been put on display as a form of entertainment for the court as they engaged in the humor displayed in the image.
Moro is depicted with two female servants, Domenica delle Cascine and Cecca di Pratolino, offering viewers a rare view of individuals outside of nobility during the 1600s in Florentine Italy. This work is a classic display of the artist Justus Suttermans’ attention to detail, given the monumental status of the three servants in the painting. Suttermans was one of the official court painters in the Medici circles. The three stand full of expression with the two older women depicted with wrinkles and glimmering eyes with thick fabric wrinkled from movement, the center figure’s red gown brings a pop of color to the portrait. In contrast, Moro stands with smooth, youthful skin and has two pearl earrings and a beautiful striped robe that stands out under the light.
This new acquisition joins two other portraits from the vast Medici collection at the Saint Louis Art Museum; Portrait of a Lady, probably Camilla Martelli de’Medici by Alessandro Allori, and Francesco Salviati’s Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman. This new painting continues the Saint Louis Art Museum’s mission to collect, present, interpret, and conserve works of art of the highest quality across time and cultures; educates, inspires discovery, and elevates the human spirit. Please come see this extraordinary new acquisition, Domenica delle Cascine, la Cecca di Pratolino, and Pietro Moro, on view in Gallery 236.
Delyn Stephenson is a Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow, 2022.
