As the painting suggests, even against the backdrop of widespread suspicion of black and brown-skinned people, several European artists and writers were able to explore alternative ideas about female beauty that highlighted the aesthetic appeal of darker complexions. This is the era when sculptures of the ‘black Venus’ start to appear in some quantity. These small sculptures, made for wealthy households, were meant to be seen from various angles and held and turned in the hand. They typically exploited the colours of materials like ebony, bronze and semi-precious stones to evoke smooth,
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