Pedro Sunda
Unknown (Dutch, born 1600)
earlier ascribed to Jaspar Beckx (Dutch, 1547–1647)
earlier ascribed to Albert Eckhout (Dutch, 1610–1665)
1641-1645
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 75 cm, width 62 cm
- Culture
- Dutch
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
The inscription ”Pedro Sunda” on the back of this portrait is important because it tells us who the person in the painting is. The portrait is one of a series of three paintings, all of which have a name on the back. The names Diego Bemba and Dom Michael de Castro are written on the back of the other two. Thanks to this information we can reconstruct the history of the paintings. Dom Michael de Castro was on a diplomatic mission for the Count of Sonho (Soyo, in what was the Kongo at the time), Daniel da Silva. He was part of a delegation to meet the head of the Dutch Republic, Governor Frederick Hendrick, and the governor of Dutch Brazil, Johan Mauritz, Count of Nassau-Siegen. The goal was to gather allies in a territorial dispute in the Kongo. He brought his servants Pedro Sunda and Diego Bemba with him.
