Portraits

Scope and Contents:

An African woman is seen from behind in this apparently incomplete sketch. She bears three baskets on her head and carries a fourth basket in her hand. She wears some kind of band-like top, with a wrapped long skirt. Her feet are bare and she wears bracelets on her wrists. A palm tree is sketched loosely at left. Unlabeled.

Scope and Contents: Watercolor portrait, full-length, of an African man with a moustache wearing a British or European military costume. He has a billed cap (with initials "C.M.R." for "Cape Mounted Rifles" embroidered or stamped on it) and a tight, high-collared, jacket, both in dark blue, and beige trousers. He also wears black leather boots. He stands with arms crossed, looking sideways at the viewer. A metal sword is slung at his waist. In graphite are sketched mounted military men, at considerable distance...

Scope and Contents:

Portrait of "Eno: A Kaffir Chief," showing a middle-aged African man with a leopard-skin cape draped around his shoulders. He wears a black beaded necklace and earring. His hair is cropped short. It is unclear how Norris came to paint this portrait--whether Eno was a prisoner of the British regiment or had some kind of pact of non-aggression with colonial forces.

Scope and Contents: Watercolor portrait of three Xhosa/"Kaffir" tribespeople. A man stands holding a long wooden implement, keeping his hands and body wrapped in a beige colored cloak. A woman with a beaded or colorful band around her breast, beige skirt, and golden bangles stands holding a small wooden or woven bowl. Another woman kneels in the foreground holding a bushel of reeds. She has an infant strapped to her back. It is not known whether the three subjects posed for this portrait or were observed from a...

Scope and Contents: Pen and ink sketch of an officer wearing a feathered and visored helmet and full uniform. He stands with his sword pointed at the ground. A loose profile is sketched above this image.On the reverse is part of a watercolor landscape, torn in half. Graphite scribblings and writing covers this watercolor, with some handwriting practiced and the name "Carles Henry de Rouvignes" written at the bottom of the page. It is unclear why this name appears here, although similar scribblings...