Saving a Haitian National Icon: Guillon-Lethière’s Oath of the Ancestors

Abstract

Guillaume Guillon-Lethière’s monumental 1822 canvas had been his labor of love, his gift to the newly independent nation of Haiti, and his declaration of political solidarity with their revolution against slavery. I could not imagine how a perishable work on canvas might survive the disaster, and the thought of its loss was heartbreaking. Therefore, I was delighted to learn recently that the painting has been found and salvaged from the wreckage of the building.