Unusual for its large size (5”x7”) and the rarity of its subject, this tin type was made in Trinidad de Cuba in the early 1870s. I acquired it from a man I caught selling national antiquities to tourists. When I stopped the sale by explaining to his buyers why such an image should be treasured by Cubans rather than purchased like a tourist trinket for display in France, he quickly demanded that I put my money where my mouth was. I paid him twenty-five dollars and in turn asked for its progeny. He told me that the woman was a slave who had worked at the Palacio Brunet (today El Museo Romántico) and belonged to its principal owner, José Mariano Borrell. Why she was photographed at all, he could not say. Nor did he know her name or if she had been freed by the 1870s, when her owner had certainly died and his only heir (a daughter) had long before moved to Spain. Because most tin types date from the 1870s-80s, it is likely that this woman—bedecked with jewels—or her family members considered her legacy too important not to document despite the relative expense. Her charisma and relaxed self-confidence match her placid, decisive expression. Trinidad de Cuba, circa 1870s.
