For the first time, the painting has been subject to a thorough technical study, bringing to light new information that corrects longstanding assumptions about who and what the painting depicts and when it was created, which has implications for our understanding of the enslaved child’s biography. For example, it was discovered that the date of the painting can now be placed between 1719 (when Prussian Blue was introduced to Britain) and 1721 (when Elihu Yale died). Any new findings will be published on the YCBA website.

In the museum’s galleries, the painting was temporarily replaced with Enough About You (2016) by Titus Kaphar (Yale MFA 2006), which makes the young boy its primary subject. Kaphar’s work demonstrates how historic depictions of people of African descent intersect with contemporary issues of inequality.

Baskett worked alongside Mellon to build, catalog, and care for what is now the YCBA’s art collection. Peebles described Baskett as “a lovely person who openly shared details of his life and relationship with Paul Mellon. He seemed to have had a magical personal experience while helping Mellon. He was able to travel Europe, live an idyllic life in Virginia where he also met his wife, and grow his expertise as an independent art dealer.”

The scholarship program aimed to provide a structured cohort environment for the museum’s interns, all of whom who worked remotely for eight to 10 weeks. The YCBA hosted an introductory week for all the interns in early June to provide them with a foundational understanding of the museum’s collections and departments, and to get them set up for a successful summer working from home. The interns worked in the following areas: Advancement and External Affairs, Institutional Archives and Research, Paintings and Sculpture, Publications, and the Reference Library.

“People couldn’t access the museum in person, but we could reach our audiences with information and programs online. The museum already had an active YouTube page for hybrid events pre-pandemic, but digital became essential once we were closed. The switch to digital-only was a transformational for us and our patrons, and we had huge growth in online participation,” said Harris.

The Berger Collection Education Trust was created in 1999 by William M. B. Berger, Yale BA 1948, and Bernadette Joan Johnson Berger. Its mission is to maintain, display, and provide education related to British art. It has sponsored numerous exhibitions of British painting throughout the United States, is a major supporter of the British Art Journal, and co-administers the William M. B. Berger Prize for British Art History.

Hwang began work in November 2020 although pandemic closures made hands-on work impossible. Hwang instead worked from photos of a variety of materials including eighteenth- and nineteenth-century printed books, photograph albums, games, manuscripts, and commonplace books.

Commonplace books became a special focus for Hwang. Commonplace books, which are well represented in the YCBA’s collection, were popular in Britain and elsewhere in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Their authors, primarily women, compiled of poetry, prose, and related illustrations in a style similar to scrapbooks. Hwang explored how the fluid categorization of these materials has allowed more inclusivity of works by women in manuscript collections.