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vi sual repres entati on s of an elite: afri can ambas sadors an d rulers i n re naissan ce europe
oil on canvas Portrait of a Man, previously titled Portrait of a Moor, is dated ca. 1600 (no. 65).7 It has been suggested that the unidentified subject was a “Moorish ambassador to the Venetian court.”8 His profession is hinted at by the presence of a bundle of letters, the most commonly agreed-upon attribute of an ambassador. They are tied up with string, and sealed with stamped red sealing wax. The man has short black hair, with some curls, and a moustache, and he wears two rings on his left hand, one on his index finger and one on his little finger. Significant numbers of African ambassadors and envoys, including many Arabic speakers from North Africa, traveled to Europe at this time. Carlo Ridolfi’s 1642 biography of Domenico Tintoretto notes that Domenico (and his competitor Bassano) painted many ambassadorial portraits; both were considered excellent at the genre.9 In a portrait of 1600 by an unknown artist of ‘Abd al-Wahid bin Mas‘ud bin Muhammad alAnnuri (fig. 45), although no letters or credentials are visible, the ambassador is identified by an inscription as “the legate of the King of Barbary to England.” The painting has long been known as The Moorish Ambassador (or The Ambassador from the King of Morocco) to Queen Elizabeth, titles that highlight Elizabethan English confusion over the terms Moor, Morocco, and Barbary. Elizabeth I is known to have had close ties with the ruler of Morocco.10 At the time of al-Annuri’s embassy, the king was Mulay Ahmed al-Mansur, who ruled from 1578 to 1603; al-Annuri was described as alMansur’s secretary and as coming from Fez, which had been annexed by Morocco only in 1548 so he was not considered a true “Moroccan.” In 1585 the Barbary company had been formed in England, and delegations from “Barbary” came to London in pursuit of deals and ties; al-Annuri’s embassy, which consisted of the ambassador and fourteen or fifteen other Muslims (two of whom were known
fig. 44 Francesco Laurana (Italian, ca. 1420–before 1502), The embassy from the king of Tunis, detail from Francesco Laurana’s Triumphal Arch, Castel Nuovo, Naples, ca. 1450.