Young, Hannah (2022) ‘The perfection of his taste’: Ralph Bernal, collecting and slave-ownership in nineteenth-century Britain. Cultural and Social History, 19 (1). pp. 19-37. ISSN 1478-0038 (Print), 1478-0046 (Online) (doi:10.1080/14780038.2022.2034587)

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Abstract

Ralph Bernal was one of the most eminent collectors of his age, distinguished ‘by the perfection of his taste, as well as the extent of his knowledge’. He also owned three Jamaican plantations and enslaved over 500 people. This article will interrogate the complex ways that enslavement, race, culture and taste were intertwined in nineteenth-century Britain. It will argue that we should not uncritically celebrate ‘the connoisseur’ without interrogating the power relations that shaped how their collections, and reputations, were constructed. We cannot understand Bernal’s collection, or the ‘perfection’ of his taste, without acknowledging the violence embedded within it.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	slavery; slave-ownership; collecting; taste; decorative arts
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS)
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2024 13:32
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/48158

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