Portrait of a Haitian woman

François Malepart de Beaucourt, born in La Prairie, Quebec, was the first Canadian painter to study in Europe. There is no record of his activities between the end of a long stay in France in 1784, and 1792, when he resurfaced in the United States and then Montreal. Recent information shows that Beaucourt was living in Saint-Domingue, present-day Haiti, in 1787 and 1788, suggesting he painted this 1786 portrait in the West Indies.