Painting that covered up enslaved boy restored, set to hang in Met

nypost.com:

set to hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art this fall after half a century in hiding.The Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans attributed work from 1837, titled “Bélizaire and the Frey Children,” depicts the three kids of wealthy New Orleans French Quarter banker Frederick Frey alongside 15-year-old Bélizaire — whom the family reportedly purchased as a 6-year-old.“The Frey portrait shows a surprising intimacy between the four children, suggesting that Bélizaire was a valued member of the household, despite his enslaved status,” according to ArtNet.“But at some point around the turn of the century, someone painted over Bélizaire, not only erasing him from the Frey family history but obscuring a rare example from the era of a realistic portrait of an enslaved person.”The altered portrait was kept by the Frey clan for over a century.

In 1972, a descendant of the family matriarch, Coralie D’Aunoy Frey, donated the painting to the New Orleans Museum of Art and reportedly explained that Bélizaire was erased.“However, the institution chose not to do anything with that information,” the outlet reported. “The painting languished in museum storage until 2005, when it was deaccessioned at auction, selling for $7,200 at Christie’s New York.”Then museum director John Bullard rationalized the decision because, according to him, the work “was not in exhibitable condition” and that neither the artist nor children were known at the time, the New York Times reported.“I think in hindsight it was a mistake,” he told the paper.The painting’s restoration began during the change of hands in 2005 when it was sold to a Virginia antique collector.