Portrait of a Boy Holding a Bow

Date1780s

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 23 5/8 × 19 1/4 inches (60.01 × 48.9 cm)
Framed: 28 1/8 × 23 3/4 × 2 1/2 inches (71.44 × 60.33 × 6.35 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund

Object number2025.16

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionThis oil painting features a young black boy depicted in three-quarter view. The boy holds an archer’s bow in his right hand. His eyes look over his right shoulder, a slight smile across his face. He is wearing a green outer coat with golden stripes and buttons accenting it. He wears a white collared shirt underneath. The portrait is captured within a brown, neutral toned oval trompe-l’oeil frame.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Possibly Souvenirs of the Grand Tour, Childs Gallery, Boston, February 17–April 2, 2022.

Philip Mould and Company exhibition, Frieze Masters, London, Oct 2–Oct 13, 2024, no cat.

Gallery Label

This portrait stands out for its warmth and individuality, offering a rare and beautiful depiction of a young Black child in European art. Unlike many similar works from the 1700s, this image avoids caricature and instead conveys a deep sense of presence and dignity. The child’s fine green jacket with gold trim—clothing tied to service and status—suggests
the uniform of a household attendant. His outfit and pose also reflect how Black figures were often portrayed through a lens of exoticism in this period.

At once tender and complex, the portrait invites us to reflect on how Black lives were represented—and often erased—in a world shaped by enslavement and colonialism. Though we don’t yet know the child’s name or story, this painting, created with evident care, encourages us to look more closely and ask deeper questions.

Provenance

Odette Leven-Foussier (née Veil-Picard, 1908–2006) [1];

Private collection, France, by 2023;

Their sale, Tableaux et Dessins Anciens, Tajan, Paris, December 13, 2023, lot 68, as English school, Circle of Arthur Devis, Portrait d'Enfant Tenant Un Arc, 2023;

Acquired by Philip Mould and Company, London, stock no. 4054, as English school, Portrait of a Boy Holding a Bow, by 2024;

Purchased from Philip Mould & Company by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2025.

NOTES:

[1] Odette Leven-Foussier was the daughter of Charles Edmond Veil-Picard (1856–1947) and Marie Catherine Adélaïde Saint Remÿ (1874–1969). Leven-Foussier’s grandchildren remember the painting in the last apartment she owned, and they suggest that since she was a collector, she perhaps bought the painting herself. See Virginia Brilliant to Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, October 18, 2024, NAMA curatorial files.

Published References

Tableaux et Dessins Anciens (Paris: Tajan, December 13, 2023), 69, (repro.), as English school, Circle of Arthur Devis, Portrait d'Enfant Tenant Un Arc.

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