# Why be born a Slave ?, 1868

CARPEAUX Jean-Baptiste, Pourquoi naître esclave ?, Reims, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 941.1.1)
Photo : © Corentin Le Goff

Young African woman, bust view, head turned to the left, the beginnings of her shoulders visible, bound with a rope, dressed in a striped drapery revealing the chest, mounted on a square-based pedestal, pierced ears.

### Artist:

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (attributed to)
School, country: France
Valenciennes, May 11, 1827 – Courbevoie, October 12, 1875
Auteuil – 1875; model dated 1868

## Details

Material: Polychrome plaster
Technique: Painted mold
Dimensions (H x W x D in cm): 61 x 46.5 x 37
Weight: 13,500 g
Provenance: Gift of Claire Boucton, April 1, 1941
Place of Conservation: Museum of Fine Arts (inv. 941.1.1)

## About

The model, executed in 1868, was a study for the figure of Africa, one of the four continents represented at the Fontaine de l’Observatoire, commissioned from the artist by the Prefect of the Seine in 1867 and installed in Paris [source: Musée du Berry, Joconde].