Jean-Baptiste Belley, member of the National Convention

Anne-Louis Girodet painted Jean-Baptiste Belley around 1797, depicting the first Black deputy in the French National Convention — a man born enslaved in Africa, who had fought in the American Revolution and been elected to represent Saint-Domingue (Haiti) in the French legislature. The portrait is among the most significant in eighteenth-century French painting for its presentation of a Black man as a dignified political figure, shown leaning on a bust of the Abbé Raynal who had written against slavery. The combination of political dignity and abolitionistmessaging in a formal portrait makes it one of the most politically pointed images of the Revolutionary period.

Girodet renders Belley with dignified naturalism, his dark skin contrasting with the white marble of Raynal's bust in a composition of racial and intellectual dialogue. The careful modeling and restrained palette serve the painting's dual purpose as portrait and political statement.