Planter and his Wife, with a Servant, c. 1780.

Source: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

West Indies.

A man and his wife are accompanied on a walk by their black slave, who is following behind them. The man depicted is clearly white and most likely British. While his wife is also light skinned the large hat styled at an angle over her headdress suggests that she is a mulâtresse. Their slave is dressed conservatively and with dignity, as her skirt is the same style as the planter’s wife, and she is also wearing a headdress. All three figures depicted are dressed in the color white, suggesting the need to wear light-colored clothing in the tropical Caribbean. As interracial marriages were discouraged in the British colonies, Brunias is implying that they occur anyway. The race of the planter’s wife is intentionally ambiguous, while still being fair in complexion, in order to portray the mulâtresse as a desirable and attractive commodity that is specific to the Caribbean.