OFF THE WALL

Portrait of a Lady

Jackson Ambroise (Haitian)

I found this painting hanging in a bar on St. Martin, the French side of a dual-nationality Caribbean island. The delicacy and grandeur of this voluptuous woman immediately captivated me. I asked the bartender if it might be for sale. After calling the owner, we quickly agreed on a very reasonable price. (Obviously he wasn’t in love with her as much as I was.)

Years later, armed with the artist’s name—Jackson Ambroise —I embarked on a journey of research and conjecture taking me down the rabbit hole of Haiti’s complicated history following its 1804 independence. And I came up with a theory.

I learned that Milot—Ambroise’s birthplace—is the site of the once-splendid Sans Souci Palace built by Henri Christophe, ruler of the short-lived Kingdom of Haiti. Its presence would have been a daily reminder of Haiti’s royal past. Could the grand lady in this portrait be a 19th-century Haitian aristocrat as imagined by Ambroise?

Myriam Nader, owner of a Haitian art gallery in Haverstraw, New York, (unknowingly) added support to my theory…

Ambroise could have been influenced by his contemporary Saint Louis Blaise, an artist renowned for ‘voluminous figures’ and a fascination with Haiti’s royal period.

Unfortunately, Ambroise has no online presence, and Myriam’s artist files were lost in Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake.

So I’m afraid my theory will have to do.