Portrait of Jan Pranger and an Enslaved Servant, Frans van der Mijn, 1742
This scene is set at Fort Elmina, the headquarters of the Dutch slave trade in Western Africa, where Jan Pranger was director from 1730 to 1742. After his directorship, he travelled back via Suriname with ‘170 Slaves, coming from the coast of Guinea’ on board. The enslaved people remained behind in Paramaribo, except for one who accompanied him to Amsterdam as a servant, where this portrait was painted.