Долги-2

[crivelli]

Помните, я рассказывала о сказке Музеуса, в которой египетская принцесса, дочь султана Мелексала, бежит со своим возлюбленным, пленным франком, мнимым садовником, графом Эрнстом фон Глейхен, в Европу, где праведная супруга графа с благословения папы Римского заказывает для себя и мужа с избавительницей трёхспальную кровать?

Увы, не все такие истории непременно столь счастливо оканчиваются.
Например, возлюбленную Джона Хендерсона, принцессу Занзибара, изображённую на картине Уолтера Фрайера вместе со своею чёрной рабыней, ждала болезнь от тягот морского пути и смерть в Александрии, а вовсе не ложе на троих.

Walter Frier
fl.1705-1731
portrait of the princess of zanzibar with an african attendant
inscribed c.l.: JOHN HENDERSON of FORDELL/Traveling in his youth thro Several/parts of Asia and Africa from/ye 1618 to ye 1628 was/delivered unto Slavery by a Barbari/Prince in Zanquebar on the Cost of/Africa where a Princefs of that/Countrie falling in love with him/Even to Renoincing her Religion and/Countrie contrived the mians of/both their Escape and getting a/board a ship trading up ye Red/Sea landed and cam to Alexandrea /where she died whofe Picture/Mr Henderson cauised take/with her black Maid after/their oun Country habett/from ye originall Picture/at oterston by W. Frier 1731
oil on canvas
65 by 122 cm., 25 1/2 by 48 in.




This striking double portrait commemorates an unusual story concerning Sir John Henderson of Fordall in Fife, who is said to have been involved in campaigns in Africa where he was captured and held prisoner in Zanzibar. A princess from this island fell in love with him and arranged for their escape. They boarded a ship and reached Alexandria where the princess fell ill and died. The story has clear echoes of that of Captain John Smith, who was captured in 1607 in North America by a Red Indian tribe led by chief Powhatan, and who was rescued by the chief's daughter Pocahontas whom he brought back to England. Whilst there were a number of Europeans who reached North America in the beginning of the seventeenth century, Zanzibar was, as Sir John Gray pointed out (see Literature below), more or less a terra incognita to the British. However Gray also points out that two early visits to the island by British ships were recorded - by the Edward Bonaventure in 1591 and by the Union in 1609. The arrival of the latter was not welcomed by the inhabitants and two of the crew were killed and a third held prisoner. At this date Zanzibar was ruled by a Moorish King who was an ally of the Portuguese. Portugal traded with the island and there was a church there 'with a Vicar of the Order of Saint Augustine to whom the King does all possible favours' (Rezende in his Description of the Mombassa of 1634). It seems clear that if a mercenary like Henderson was captured and brought to Zanzibar, he would have been regarded with hostility and held prisoner by Portugal's loyal ally. Henderson's later career was as a soldier in Britain, and there is no evidence that he travelled abroad again. On 7th February 1625 he married Margaret, daughter of William Mentieth of Randiford. They had five sons and five daughters. Henderson was a loyal supporter of Charles I. He was knighted in about 1640, and in 1643 led an unsuccessful sortie into Lincolnshire. He commanded the Royalist garrison at Newark, and held the town against great odds until relieved by Prince Rupert. He was captured after the King's defeat at Marston Moor, but released on parole and allowed to travel to Denmark where he had a diplomatic role.

The picture is painted by the rare artist Walter Frier who is known to have married Helen, daughter of John Borthwick, goldsmith and burgess of Edinburgh in 1705, and who had a career as portrait painter in the early eighteenth century. Five portraits by him hung formerly at Prestonfield House. The portrait is said to be based on an earlier portrait but, as Duncan Thomson has pointed out, may well be an elaboration of a single portrait of the princess. It hung at Fordell Castle, the imposing sixteenth century home of the Henderson family, three miles west of Aberdour on the edge of a ravine above the Keithing Burn, which entered the family's ownership with James Henderson, Lord Advocate (1494-1507) who acquired large estates in the area and was killed with his eldest son at Flodden in 1513.

Provenance:
By descent in the Henderson family to Sir Robert Bruce Henderson, 6th Bt. (1760-1833);
Jean, his sister, who married Lieutenant-Colonel George Mercer;
By descent to Georgiana Mercer-Henderson wife of Sidney, 7th Earl of Buckinghamshire and thence by descent to the present owner

Exhibited:
On loan to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

Literature:
Sir John Gray, 'Sir John Henderson and the Princess of Zanzibar', 'Tanganyika Notes and Records', Journal of the Historical Association of Tanzania, no.37, pp.15-19;
Duncan Thomson, The Life and Art of George Jamesone, 1974, p.121;
The Concise Catalogue of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, compiled by Helen Smailes, 1990, p.22

The present painting repeats in composition, with slight differences, an anonymous painting in a private collection (see S. Béguin, Literture below). That painting includes an older gentleman at the right side which is only partially visible in our painting.

Между прочим, занзибарская принцесса очень похожа на одну мою знакомую.
Интересно, признает ли её собственный муж? Или общие знакомые?