Ovimbundu, Angola
(late nineteenth century)
height of female figure: 27.5cm
height of male figure: 29.5cm
In Fernando Moncada's opinion, these portraits may be of L‡szl- Magyar (1818-1864), the Hungarian explorer, who arrived in Benguela in December 1848, and his African wife Princess Ozoro, the daughter of Kaiaia Kajangula, the ruler of BihZ who he married in May the following year. Her mother had been born the slave of a Brazilian who had settled in Kakonde and later came into the possession of Kaiaia. By his accounts the marriage was happy and she bore him children and remained in BihZ while he embarked on a number of extensive expeditions in the region. He died in November 1864 at Ponto de Cujo, near Cape Santa Maria, survived by his wife and two sons who remained inland. His account of his travels was first published in Hungarian in 1857 and later translated into German and English. See Judith Listowel, The other Livingstone, Lewes, 1974.
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