Chapter 3
Touching difference and colonial space
Niels P. Holbech’s Little Marie on Neky’s Arm
This essay argues that Little Marie on Neky’s Arm (1838), a portrait by the Danish
painter Niels P. Holbech, provides a challenge to sentimental constructions of the West-Indian “nanny” figure. The
relational ambiguity of this painting recalls that of the wet nurse and her charge, a figure of nineteenth-century
French painting described by Linda Nochlin (1988). In the context of the
colonial imaginary, the nanny figure represented fears of “miscegenation” while also acting as a foil to white
European motherhood. Other Danish painters portrayed the nanny figure against the backdrop of the external world.
Holbech, however, foregrounds Neky and her charge, Marie by locating them in an indeterminate space. Through its close
attention to detail and difference, the painting lays bare the colonial ideology demarcating near and far, nation and
colony.
Article outline
- The emotional and geographical ‘place’ of the West Indian ‘Nanny’
- Wonder and doubt: Affective liminality and agency
- Tactility and maternity
- Blood, skin and racial science
- Conclusion: Displacing domesticity
- Author queries
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Acknowledgements
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Note
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References
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