La Reine de Mohely

Sitting in a small New Orleans classroom in 1850, the Frenchman Désiré Charnay could never have predicted that a dozen years later he would be standing face to face with Jumbe-Souli, queen of the remote island of Mohéli, off the Swahili coast of Africa. But after a crash course in photography, a few years’ practice, and financial support from the French government, he became one of the earliest expeditionary photographers. Although Charnay had been commissioned to evaluate Madagascar’s potential for colonial exploitation, he also turned his lens toward the Malagasy natives, focusing on their physical appearance, dress, and occupation as a means of illustrating various racial “types.”

It was this fascination that brought him to the throne of Queen Jumbe-Souli. The encounter must have made a great impact on the explorer, as it is recounted in extensive detail in his 1864 travel article, “A Bird’s-Eye View of Madagascar.” To supplement the essay, Charnay published an engraving of the queen’s portrait. However, his engraved version falls far short of capturing the atmospheric quality of the original photograph, which remains exceptionally striking due to the silent strength of Jumbe-Souli’s gaze and the raking light that catches on the gold embroidery of her ravishing Turkish silk robe.