The Met recently acquired “Bélizaire and the Frey Children,” a 19th-century Louisiana portrait with a secret: For over a 100 years, the image of an enslaved child was erased. This is his story.

The buyer had the portrait restored, bringing Bélizaire back into view. In 2021, Louisiana art and antiques collector Jeremy K. Simien tracked down and purchased the piece, restoring it for a ...

Art World An 1837 Portrait of an Enslaved Child, Obscured by Overpainting for a Century, Has Been Restored and Acquired by the Met. A collector dedicated to unearthing Louisiana's African American ...

McInnis is the great-great-granddaughter of William Strutt Slater, the fourth child in the family, who was not born at the time of the painting. The portrait spent most of its existence in Webster ...