Portrait of Charles van der Meulen, Missionary to Curaçao 1844 - 1849

This is an oil on canvas portrait of Charles van der Meulen, a missionary to Curaçao, by an unknown artist. The inscription at the top of the painting tells us that Van der Meulen died in 1844 at the age of 18. The somber mood and dark colors are in keeping with a memorial portrait of a clergyman. But this is no ordinary clergyman, Curaçao was a Dutch colony with an economy built on the transatlantic slave trade. We can reasonably assume that Van der Meulen would have come into contact with the realities of this brutal system. How would that have affected a young man of the church? How did the church, as an institution, relate to slavery? Was Van der Meulen critical of it or complicit? These are questions that a social historian might ask. We can consult archival records of the Dutch Reformed Church and the records of the Dutch colonial government to get a clearer understanding of the complex politics of imagery.