The Yale Center for British Art's The Island of Barbados (ca. 1694), attributed to Isaac Sailmaker, is believed to be the earliest known painting of the island. This work provides a compelling visual record of seventeenth-century Barbados under British colonial rule and offers insight into the sugar industry, built on the labor of enslaved African and Indigenous people.
The painting has sparked a meaningful collaboration between Yale, the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, and the National Trust (UK), each of which holds one of the three earliest surviving panoramic paintings of Barbados. Together, these institutions are engaged in a cross-continental effort to research, conserve, and analyze these historically significant works.
In this talk, Kendall Francis, Assistant Paintings Conservator, will share updates on this ongoing collaborative project, including recent conservation work, technical analysis, and a joint research trip to the Barbados Museum and Historical Society.
Register
Preregistration is required for all programs. Please contact ycba.studyroom@yale.edu to register.
Conversations about Conservation
Join us in the Study Room for a series of talks featuring works from the collection presented by members of the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) Conservation department. Speakers will highlight objects in the collection, discuss how the artworks were made, and describe conservation treatments that have been performed. In addition, collections care, technical analysis, and the relationship of media to meaning will be explored.
