Written by Boryana Ivanova. The masquerade ball carries a long and varied history, but how did the eighteenth century masquerade become imagined places of pleasure, excess and female liberation?
Written by Sophie Whitehead. The portrait of Lady Elizabeth and Dido Belle has fascinated historians and allowed us a glimpse into Black History in the eighteenth century. But who was she? And how has she been understood by historians and art critics since the painting’s production?
Professor Diana Paton and Professor Matthew Smith sit down with Retrospect’s EIC, Jamie Gemmell, to discuss their new volume: The Jamaica Reader: History, Culture, Politics.
Written by Charlie Horlick. Ottobah Cugoano’s writing has been typically framed as a slave narrative, yet it is perhaps more than that. Part political economy, part meditation on morality, it should be integrated into the canon of eighteenth-century philosophy.
Retrospect Journal