🔴 X-ray evidence of Black maths scholar portrait reveals snubbed genius

"It has long been mistaken for a satirical painting that mocks its Black subject for having the temerity to pretend to be a Georgian gentleman and scholar. But it is now thought to have been commissioned in 1760 by Williams himself to immortalise his brilliance as a trailblazing astronomer who, the clues in the painting suggest, successfully managed to compute and witness the trajectory of Halley’s comet over Jamaica in 1759."

🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/16/x-ray-evidence-black-maths-scholar-portrait-francis-williams-uncovers-genius

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