The Extraordinary Story of Dido Elizabeth Belle
Dido Elizabeth Belle was the daughter of a Royal Navy officer who commanded the HMS Victory. She was raised outside of racial conventions during the 18th century. Her father, Sir John Lindsay, had impregnated a 14-year-old enslaved girl named Maria Belle during his career in the Caribbean. This resulted in the birth of their daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle, in 1761. Racist Portraiture of the 18th Century A Young Girl with an Enslaved Servant by Bartholomew Dandridge, 1725. Source: Yale Center for British Art. Though African communities had been present in England before the Transatlantic Slave Trade, European opinions of people of color were at an all-time low as the slave trade reached its peak. Not only was Dido Elizabeth Belle living a life unheard of in 18th-century England, but the painting itself is a rare example of an African woman in European art. Africans are undoubtedly present in 18th-century paintings of the upper classes. However, they almost always served as foils to enhance the perceived “superiority” of the white figures in the …
