Archivo: Coachmen with Horse and Carriage, Havana, Cuba, 1830s-1840s

Descripción: Caption, El Quitrin, Havannah, shows a slave in livery mounted on a horse. The volante or quitrin of Havanna . . . is generally drawn by one horse or mule . . . . The conductor, called il calesero, is generally, if not always, a negro slave, and he rides on the horse or mule . . . . The private quitrin is usually a very handsome affair--glittering in silver ornaments, as does also the harness and other accouterments of the horse and rider . . . . But, without the black calesero, and his rich . . . dress, the volante would lose half of its attractions . . . . Indeed, the private calesero is a very unique object. In dress a cross between an officer of the Haytian army and a French postilion, he is usually garbed in a very handsome livery, richly embroidered with gold or silver lace, and a black hat with gold or silver band . . . . (pp. 170-73). For another similar view of the volante, see Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 6 (1853), p. 163 and image Album-12 on this website. A slightly altered version is also published in Maturin Ballou, History of Cuba (Boston, 1854), facing p. 131. The orginal of this illustration was done by the French artist Frederic/Federico Mialhe, who lived in Cuba from 1838 to 1854; see, Emilio Cueto, Mialhe's Colonial Cuba [Miami, The Historical Association of Southern Florida, 1994] for the same image which Cueto identifies as the most famous Cuban print of all times, pp. 93,94).
Título: Coachmen with Horse and Carriage, Havana, Cuba, 1830s-1840s
Créditos: http://slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/465
Autor(a): Frederic/Federico Mialhe; Robert Baird
Términos de Uso: Dominio Público
Licencia: Dominio Público
¿Se exige la atribución?: No