The Butt That Everyone Wanted to See — Part II
We are continuing from The Butt That Everyone Wants To See — Part I.
Sarah Baartman had decided to stay in England after the court case. The story continues.
Sarah Baartman Reaches Paris
During her time in Manchester, she underwent baptism and embraced the name “Sarah,” as documented in the baptismal records. She continued to accompany Dunlop until his passing in 1812. Following his death, she embarked on a journey with a man named Henry Taylor. In 1814, Taylor escorted her to Paris.
Shortly after arriving, Taylor contacted the Museum of Natural History, claiming to possess the original picture of the Hottentot Venus and inviting Georges Cuvier to view the display on 13 September at rue Neuves-des-Petits-Champs. Cuvier initially declined but later changed his mind, possibly influenced by public curiosity.
In Paris, Sara faced no controversy over her past slave status, unlike in London. Despite being in the heart of the country that championed individual rights and liberty, the "rights of man" didn’t extend to black women, especially a Hottentot like her.
In Paris, she resumed her shows, which regained immense popularity. To maximize profits, Taylor extended Baartman’s daily performance hours from six to ten and continued entertaining the wealthy and influential with private shows in the evenings. Saartjie never fully recovered from her severe illness in the winter of 1814.
(PC - Wikipedia)
Despite her ongoing fame, her health deteriorated due to overwork, alcohol abuse, and waning hope. She grew increasingly reclusive and withdrawn. However, the demanding schedule eventually took a toll on her health, and by 1815, she could no longer perform.
“The Venus Hottentot has changed owners,” the Journal General de France reported on 23 January 1815, the year of Sara Baartman’s death.
By January 1815, Saartjie was under the ownership of S. Réaux, an animal trainer with ties to the scientific community. He sold animal carcasses for dissection and study to comparative anatomists.
Without her daily performances, Saartjie became listless, often venturing out only after dark to entertain the elite at private gatherings or to wander anonymously in the nearby Palais Royal Gardens. Her health continued to worsen, and she relied on alcohol for comfort, with her manager, Réaux, readily providing her with as much as she desired.
Along Came the Scientist
Georges Cuvier, a professor of comparative anatomy at the Museum of Natural History, held key roles in the University of France under Napoleon.
His central question was whether Sarah belonged to the last human race, the Negro race, or if she was the link between humans and orangutans.
(PC - Wikipedia)
In March 1815, Baartman and Reaux visited the Jardin des Plantes, a symbol of France’s scientific era. Reaux orchestrated her nude posing for a group of four artists who drew her for three days and compensated her with a substantial sum.
“She kept her apron concealed,” Cuvier would write, “either between her thighs or still more deeply.”
The ‘apron’ or ‘Hottentot apron’ refers to the elongated outer labia which was associated with the Khoe women. Cuvier wanted the anatomical proof of the famous ‘Hottentot apron’. Sara Baartman, amid artists painting her from all angles and scientists measuring her meticulously, boldly refused to grant the greatest European scientist’s desires. In this act of defiance, she conveyed a powerful assertion of self.
The Death of Sarah Baartman
By 1815, French newspapers lost interest in the Hottentot Venus, relegating her to a minor attraction in a city constantly seeking new controversies. Reaux attempted to exhibit Sara on Saint-Honoré and in Palais cafés, even making her available at a brothel on Cours des Fontaines, likely driven by financial struggles in the impoverished city.
At the end of the year, Sarah Baartman died. Georges Cuvier stated Sara’s death as December 29, 1815, while Annales, Politiques, Morales et Literaires mentioned the following day due to fever. The Journal General de France, on December 31, reported her death from a brief illness of three days, attributing it to smallpox, misunderstood by her doctors as a respiratory ailment. Despite varied accounts, the likely cause of Sara’s death, given her poor diet and harsh conditions, was pneumonia.
Her death was not the end of her story. Cuvier and other scientists secured permission from the police to obtain her corpse. Less than twenty-four hours after Saartjie’s death, her body was swiftly delivered to the Natural History Museum without any formal rites.
Found among her belongings were two carefully folded documents—a copy of her contract with Dunlop and her 1811 baptismal certificate—which Réaux handed over with her corpse.
Life After Her Death
In January 1816, Cuvier dissected the body of Sarah Baartman. Before dissecting her, Cuvier created a complete cast of her form, anchoring the enduring image of the "Hottentot Venus" onto a compact, weighty platform. Artists meticulously adorned the cast to mirror their observations—depicting aureole and nipple on her breasts, crafting a trompe l’oeil of hair on her head, and even incorporating a small animal skin to shield her modesty.
(PC - Icarusfilms https://icarusfilms.com/if-sara)
Using his scalpel, Cuvier aimed to resolve the enduring scientific dispute regarding the true essence of the Hottentot people and their classification in the biological hierarchy. He dissected Sara Baartman, extracting her brain for examination, andcarefully preserving it in a medical jar for future scrutiny. Other organs were meticulously removed, weighed, and conserved.
Cuvier’s primary focus was on Baartman’s buttocks and reproductive organs, areas she had previously declined to reveal to him ten months prior. Scientists excised Sara’s genitals, placing them in a separate jar of preservative.
By June 8, 1816, Cuvier completed documenting his "dissection of the Hottentot Venus." The Times noted, "This new curiosity for natural history enthusiasts will find a place in the museum." Along with De Blainville’s earlier examination, Cuvier’s writings immortalized Sara Baartman.
Despite attributing the Hottentot "apron" to culture, not nature, Cuvier concluded that, based on Sara’s body, Hottentots were closer relatives to great apes than humans.
For the Eyes of Everyone
Positioned at Exhibit 33 in the Jardin des Plantes, the world's premier natural history museum, she showcased her brain and a wire-stitched skeleton upright on a simple metal pole. A fortunate few glimpsed her preserved organs neatly arranged on a shelf within Cuvier's wooden cabinets.
In 1937, she relocated from the Jardin to the Musée de l’Homme, situated opposite the Eiffel Tower. This museum, conceived for the International Exhibition of Arts and Technology in Modern Life, symbolized a renewal of modernity after the devastating Great War of 1914–17.
Following protests that the exhibit debased Africans and women, in 1982 museum officials removed Cabinet Number 33 from public viewing.
Coming Back Home
In 1994, upon Nelson Mandela’s historic inauguration as the first black president in post-apartheid South Africa, he formally appealed to France for the repatriation of her remains. Following legal disputes and discussions in the French National Assembly, France agreed to the request, facilitating the return of her remains to African authorities for a formal burial in 2002.
At the burial ceremony which hosted more than seven thousand people, South African President Thabo Mbeki’s eulogy invoked a familiar theme: "The story of Sarah Baartman is the story of all African people of our country it is a story of our reduction to the status of objects that could be owned, used, and disposed by others".
Sara Baartman’s story is a poignant testament to the exploitation and dehumanization she endured during her lifetime and beyond. From being exhibited as the "Hottentot Venus" to the dissection of her body for scientific curiosity, her tragic narrative reflects the broader issues of racism, objectification, and colonial exploitation.
However, Baartman’s legacy serves as a reminder of the enduring impact of colonialism and the ongoing need for reflection and redress in our collective understanding of human dignity and equality.
Sources
- The Life and Times of Sarah Baartman — Zola Maseko
- Butts — Heather Radke
- The Hottentot Venus — Rachel Holmes
- Black Girls in Paris — Salamishah Tillet
- Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus — Clifton Crais & Pamela Scull
