Joseph: A Celebrated Haitian Model in 19th-Century Paris
Let’s explore the life of a Haitian immigrant to Paris, muse to renowned painter Théodore Géricault, and one of the most famous Black models of the era.
Study of the Model Joseph (about 1818–1819) by Théodore GéricaultThe J. Paul Getty Museum
Who was Joseph?
Little may be known about the life of Joseph now, including his surname, but in 1858, French newspaper Le Figaro said of him: “There is not in France a single artist, painter or sculptor who does not know Joseph...the most handsome model who ran the ateliers of Paris!”
Joseph, like other Black models of this time, played a vital part in some of France’s most famous paintings.
Euro(Fra) Paris Maps Views PanoramaLIFE Photo Collection
Joseph and 19th-Century Black Paris
Born in Saint-Domingue, Haiti, around 1793, Joseph arrived in Marseille at an unknown date, before finding work in Paris. By 1808, he was employed as an acrobat and actor.
Joseph was a part of a community of free Black residents in Paris, many of whom arrived from colonies in the French West Indies, West Africa, and America, when slavery was outlawed in France, first briefly from 1794–1802, then again, permanently after 1848.
The majority of these residents lived in the northern neighborhoods of the city.
Paris’s ninth and 17th arrondissements were home to a diverse, multi-racial community of artists, writers, and workers.
Home to Impressionist artists such as Manet and Renoir, the neighborhood also housed several artists and intellectuals of color, including author Alexandre Dumas (pictured here with his biracial mistress, Adah Isaacs Menken).
These neighborhoods were also home to art models like Joseph, such as Laure, a Black woman whom Manet painted on three separate occasions.
Olympia (small plate) Olympia (small plate) (1867) by Édouard ManetThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Notably, she was the model for the chambermaid in his famed but initially controversial 1863 painting Olympia held in the Musée d'Orsay's collection. Manet's print version of the work is depicted here.
Much of the controversy centered around the figure of Olympia, historically modeled after the goddess Venus but depicted as a modern-day prostitute, which shocked many of Manet’s contemporaries.
But Olympia’s maid, modeled by Laure, takes up equal space in the painting. Her depiction reflects racial stereotypes, but also evolves away from them with Manet’s realistic techniques.
Les Naufragés de la Méduse (The Raft of the Medusa) (from a private collection) (1820/1830) by Samuel Williams Reynolds, after Théodore GéricaultThe J. Paul Getty Museum
Joseph, the Most Handsome Model
Decades earlier than the painting of Olympia, Joseph started working as an art model in Paris. He began his career by posing for Géricault, who noted Joseph’s beauty upon seeing him in an acrobat show.
Joseph posed for Géricault’s most well-known painting, The Raft of the Medusa, a print of which is seen here. Now held by the Louvre, the painting soon became one of the most important works of French Romanticism.
The painting is based upon the true, tragic tale of the Medusa, a French ship. The Medusa foundered off the coast of what is now Mauritania in 1816, and a raft with 140 passengers drifted for 13 days before being rescued.
Only 15 people survived, some having resorted to cannibalism. Géricault’s painting was both controversial and celebrated for its subject matter.
Les Naufragés de la Méduse (The Raft of the Medusa) (from a private collection) (1820/1830) by Samuel Williams Reynolds, after Théodore GéricaultThe J. Paul Getty Museum
Joseph was the model for the figure waving a cloth at the front of the raft, his bare back visible.
He may have also posed for the face of the African man at the back left, as Géricault studied Joseph in multiple similar poses.
The anatomy class at the École des Beaux Arts (1888) by François SalléArt Gallery of New South Wales
Following his work with Géricault, Joseph began posing for several other notable artists, including Horace Vernet, Alfred de Dreux, and Adolphe Brune.
Importantly, he became a registered model at the École des Beaux-Arts. He regularly posed for both professors and students of paint and sculpture. Joseph's work as an École model would have looked similar to the scene depicted here in François Salle's painting.
In Géricault’s Study of the Model Joseph, the painter pays great attention to facial expression as he renders Joseph with great sympathy and sensitivity.
The painting is an excellent example of an expressive head study, or tête d’étude—a well-established genre in French studio practice.
Study of the Model Joseph (about 1818 - 1819) by Théodore GéricaultThe J. Paul Getty Museum
The blue military uniform that the model wears heightens the dramatic power of this emotive head study and links it to the subject of The Raft of the Medusa.
It alludes to the fact that a number of Black soldiers from a French colonial battalion were among the ill-fated passengers onboard the ship.
It is Joseph’s incredibly expressive eyes that are really at the heart of this portryal and stop the viewer in their tracks, as he profoundly embodies the torment of a survivor. Géricault uses dabs of white and beige paint to indicate reflective light in his watery eyes.
Les Naufragés de la Méduse (The Raft of the Medusa) (from a private collection) (1820/1830) by Samuel Williams Reynolds, after Théodore GéricaultThe J. Paul Getty Museum
Géricault’s treatment of the disturbing story of the shipwreck in stormy, moody colors, captures hopelessness, fear, violence, and hope, and transforms the tragic story into an iconic Romantic painting.
Study of the Model Joseph (about 1818 - 1819) by Théodore GéricaultThe J. Paul Getty Museum
His study of Joseph reflects the same spirit, with Joseph serving as the perfect Romantic model of passionate expression.
Joseph’s Later Life and Legacy
By the 1860s, Joseph’s presence gradually faded from noted records. He may have occasionally posed as a model in his later years, but likely passed away by the late 1860s or 1870s.
The stories and even names of artists’ models are often unrecorded. The fact that we know the little we do about Joseph proves his status as a coveted model within Paris's artistic circles.
He was so well-known that many other Black models at the time would also be called “Joseph.”
His fame and status in the Academy allow us to have a glimpse at not only his life, but the lives of other contemporary Black models in Paris as well, and the important contributions they made to city’s celebrated and enduring art.
© 2023 J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles
View Théodore Chassériau’s study of Joseph, circa 1836, held at the Musée Ingres.
View several sketches of Joseph by Géricault, in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.
View Horace Vernet’s drawing of Joseph as an African hunter, held at the Musée Carnavalet.
Access an interactive map which shows the travels of the Haitian Granville family and learn more about the Haitian diaspora in France.
For more resources:
Le modèle noir: De Géricault à Matisse.
Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today.
To cite this exhibition, please use: "Study of the Model Joseph, Nineteenth-Century Paris, and Romanticism " published online in 2023 via Google Arts & Culture, Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
