This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. The ancient Near Eastern empire of Assyria is commonly known to history as a power unswervingly committed to savagery, with…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Genre painting—that is, the representation of anecdotal life—occupied a special place in the hearts of painters, collectors and critics of…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Perched above the swelling form of a diminutive pottery vessel, the head of a black man looks attentively ahead, the…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. An ancient African king and his queen stand before his patron deity, offering gifts in thanks for victory in battle.…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. An early and quite precocious work by one of Spain’s greatest artists takes a new approach to a venerated moment…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. A harrowing image of the inevitable end of earthly life sweeps off the heads of those who have achieved the…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. A large, tumultuous group of black congregants assembles before a modest clapboard church in Philadelphia. This watercolor rendering is one…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. In a portrait format usually reserved for the privileged classes, an elaborately dressed, elderly black man regards the viewer with…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Depicted in a rhythmic, almost dancelike motion, Mary, the Queen of Heaven, offers protection to her followers beneath her broad…

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Standing beside the august figure of King Solomon, a black attendant silently witnesses a novel dispensation of justice by the…