Agostino Brunias

Agostino Brunias (c. 1730 – April 2, 1796) was a London-based Italian painter from Rome. Strongly associated with West Indian art, he left England at the height of his career to chronicle Dominica and the neighboring islands of the West Indies. Painted in the tradition of verite ethnographique, his art was as escapist as it was romantic.

Brunias was born in Rome c. 1730; the exact date is uncertain. His first name has been spelled in various ways including Abraham, Alexander, August, or Austin, while his surname has been recorded as Brunais and Brunyas. Brunias was a student at the Accademia di San Luca, Rome, where he won Third Prize in the Second Class for painting in 1754. An early oil painting of his was exhibited in Rome two years earlier.

After Brunais met the Scottish architect Robert Adam, who was on a Grand Tour of Europe, he studied the "magnificent ruins of Italy" between 1756 and 1758. He became employed as a draughtsman by Adam, joining him in England in 1758, and painted many of Adam’s architecturally elegant buildings in England. Adam, praising his works, called Brunias a "bred painter". His paintings of murals and paintings covered the interior walls of many English stately homes. By 1762, Brunias resided in Broad Street, Carnaby Market, London. In 1763 and 1764, he exhibited at the Free Society of Artists in London.

In 1770, he left London at the height of his career. He traveled with Sir William Young, 1st Baronet, the first British Governor of Dominica, then one of Britain's newest colonies in the Lesser Antilles, and settled in Roseau. Brunias submitted two of his drawings in that year to the Society of Artists' exhibition from the West Indies. Young had hired him as his personal painter and Brunias accompanied him on his travels in the Lesser Antilles.

He was also hired by wealthy British estate owners, mainly to paint people, especially the mulatto, the mixture of European, African and Creole races. His paintings of Dominica, St. Vincent, St. Kitts, and Barbados provide a valuable insight into life on these islands during the colonial period. One of his works, Free Women of Color with their Children and Servants in a Landscape, (c. 1764–96), an oil painting on canvas, depicts colonial women of color as privileged and prosperous, and is now in the Brooklyn Museum. It depicts the influence of a diverse European, Caribbean, and African cultures prevalent in the 18th century Caribbean.

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