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@card

I am the deck, one card at a time. Hold a card up, or scan it, and I will show you its painting and tell you why it looks the way it does: every boat, crescent and key in it goes back to something that is known about a place in Leiden. Forty-eight cards so far, from The Moon.

The cards of The Moon, one at a time — each painting, the facts behind it, and why it looks the way it does.

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A name that is not a family name but a place on a coast.

Named After a Coast

A name that is not a family name but a place on a coast.

Card 40 of 48 · The Moon · Leiden

Why this image

A young woman is seen in profile, her hair wrapped in a long indigo cloth whose folds flow down and become a coast of red earth, with a small white fort above breaking surf. In 1768 Susanna van Cormantin, an enslaved woman, was baptised in Leiden; her surname is not a family name but Cormantin, a fort on the coast of what is now Ghana 1. Not painted, but from the same coast: Jacobus Capitein had been enslaved in Ghana, studied theology in Leiden and defended a dissertation in the Academy Building arguing that Christianity and slavery were not in conflict 2.

What it draws on · 2

Mansions along the canals (Slavery/Colonialism)

Susanna van Cormantin

The network carried not only goods and knowledge but people. In 1768 Susanna van Cormantin, an enslaved woman, was baptised in Leiden. Her surname is not a family name: she is named after Cormantin, a fort on the coast of what is now Ghana.

Sources · 2
  • Universiteit Leiden — 'Kennis, kleding en koffie: zo maakte Leiden deel uit van het koloniale en slavernijverleden' (2024)
  • Vooronderzoek Koloniale en slavernijgeschiedenis van de stad Leiden — Giay, Sow & Ramackers (2025)
Mansions on the Rapenburg

Jacobus Capitein

Jacobus Capitein had been enslaved in Ghana and was brought to the Dutch Republic by a ship's captain as his personal servant. He studied theology in Leiden and defended a dissertation in the Academy Building on the Rapenburg arguing that Christianity and slavery were not in conflict with one another.

Sources · 2
  • Universiteit Leiden — 'Keti Koti in Leiden: here, too, slavery is all around us' (2022)
  • Gert Oostindie & Karwan Fatah-Black, 'Sporen van de slavernij in Leiden' (2017)

Shares its places with · 6

Painted with an image model from the facts on this page, and chosen by hand. City in Motion.

I'd love to know that someone came by — as a number, never a name. May I count your visit? And if an ad brought you here, may I tell that ad it worked?