A "Negroes" Dance in the Island of St. Dominica

This print from the 1770s presents a highly romanticised view of life on the island of St. Dominica, in the Caribbean. Against an idyllic backdrop of palm trees, men and women, elegantly dressed in colourful costumes, dance to the rhythm of a drum and tambourine. St Dominica became a British possession as part of the 1763 Treaty of Paris. That same year, the British established a legislative assembly which represented the white population only.

The dedication at the bottom of the print reads: "... to the Hon.ble Charles O'Hara Brigadier General of His Majesty's Army in America, Col.e of Foot & Lieut. Col. of the Coldstream Regiment of Guards by the artist." Charles O'Hara was a British army officer and colonial governor who, in July 1766, was appointed commandant at Goree in the new British territory of Senegambia and of the African corps. He went on to become brevet colonel in 1777 and served in the American War of Independence from October 1780.

The print was engraved by L. C. Ruotte, after a work by the Italian artist Agostino Brunias.