Untung Surapati in Dutch Slavery Exhibition

Indonesian Hero in Dutch Slavery Exhibition

Sunday, July 4, 2021

Indonesian anti-colonial hero Untung Surapati is prominently present at the Rijksmuseum, the Netherlands’ national museum, in its first major exhibition highlighting the country’s dark slavery history.

A 1665 painting by Jacob Coeman of the Cnoll family in Batavia. In the background on the right is a young man with long, curly black hair, holding a parasol, who is believed to be Untung Surapati. Surapati was enslaved as a child, and was said to be one of the favorite servants in the Cnoll household. Photo courtesy of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam . tempo : 171351736695.

FOCUS of the large 17th century canvas is on the Cnoll family: merchant Pieter, his wife Cornelia, and their daughters Catharina and Hester. In the shadowy background, however, are two other figures. One is a young man with long, dark curls, carrying a parasol, and a woman with a fruit basket.

“Yet this boy is not just anyone. He is most probably Surapati, a National hero of Indonesia, famed for his struggle against the Dutch in the 17th c

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