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The Kingdom of Matamba is located in the Kwaza North Region. The accompanying text describes how Queen Nzinga is seated among her maid servants and watches a drummer. A small structure perhaps a shrine is in the background has a mat in front of it on which is a ceremonial seat. The queen is smoking an Afrikan elbow pipe.
Antonio Cavazzi was on Italian Priest who from 1654 – 1667 joined the Capuchin Missionary in what is today Northern Angola. After a visit to Europe, he returned to the Kingdom of Kongo where he remained from 1672 – 1667, he passed away in Genoa in 1678. Cavazzi made this painting and other water colours, the originals of which are in his manuscript, held in a private collection in Modena Italy.
A full set of 33 watercolours was reproduced by the Identifier Ezio Bassani. A microfilm copy of the manuscript is held by the Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library. Cavazzi’s drawings must be among the earliest known eyewitness sketches of Afrikan life by a European.
