Black Presence in National Gallery Paintings

The Moor's Head

A type of black presence in painting that's hard to spot unless you really zoom in close is the use of the Moor's head as a heraldic emblem. It's the profile of a black male head, and can be found on buildings, and on objects like rings and belt buckles in paintings made for European families. This painting of Saint Sebastian was made for the Pucci family in Florence: their Moor's head emblem appears in roundels in the Roman arch in the background.

The Moors (of black and mixed Arab heritage) conquered Spain and Portugal in the eighth century. Under the command of an African chief named Tarik, they occupied large parts of Europe for well over four centuries despite frequent and violent attempts to expel them. With them, they brought intellectual, creative and spiritual influences and inevitably, Moorish and European blood mixed.

Some noble European families adopted the Moor's head as their family emblem, perhaps as a reminder of this significant influence. It may also have had more negative connotations, signalling the defeated 'pagan' whose image was then taken over by the descendants of those who fought in the Christian Crusades.

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