Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePainting1806

Desalines

Manuel López López · 1806

A hostile 1806 Mexican engraving showing Dessalines holding a sword and a severed white woman's head, from a French propaganda biography.

A hostile contemporary caricature of Dessalines made to demonize him as a tyrant in colonial propaganda.

Ask Jean-Jacques Dessalines about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Black-and-white engraving titled DESALINES. A man in a tricorn hat with feathers raises a curved sword in one hand and holds a severed head with curly hair in the other. A woman's body lies on rocks at right, with tents and figures in the background.
Manuel López López, Desalines, 1806. Illustration to Louis Dubroca's biography of Dessalines.

About this source

What it is

This engraving by Manuel López López illustrated the Mexican edition of a biography of Dessalines written by French pamphleteer Louis Dubroca. It shows Dessalines raising a sword while holding a severed head, with a woman's body shown nearby.

Why it matters

This image is not a neutral record but propaganda made to frighten European and colonial audiences soon after Haiti's independence. It reflects how French and colonial writers demonized Dessalines as a bloodthirsty tyrant, using racist caricature to discredit the revolution and its leader during his own lifetime.

Look closer

  • Who made this image, and what might they have wanted viewers to feel about Dessalines?
  • How does the way the artist drew Dessalines compare with how he might have described himself?
  • Why do you think this kind of image was reprinted in different languages and countries?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jean-Jacques Dessalines on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Jean-Jacques Dessalines sources

Meet the AI Jean-Jacques Dessalines →
Scan of a printed broadside headed 'Armée Indigène' with 'Liberté ou la Mort' above. It has three columns of French text, a signature block of names including Dessalines, and a footer reading 'Au Port-au-Prince, de l'imprimerie du gouvernement'.Document

Primary source

Haitian Declaration of Independence

Louis Boisrond-Tonnerre · 1 January 1804

Title page of the 1805 Constitution of Hayti, printed in French with the heading 'CONSTITUTION D'HAYTI' over a list of names and preamble text, with red library stamps in the upper area. Page is aged and tan-colored.Document

Primary source

Constitution of Hayti

Jean-Jacques Dessalines · 1805

Large painting of two uniformed men standing either side of a stone tablet inscribed with text, hands on it, under a radiant figure of an old bearded God with outstretched arms in clouds above, with the Hebrew letters of the divine name. Chains lie on the ground at their feet; a battle scene and crowd fill the background.Painting

Secondary source

The Oath of the Ancestors

Guillaume Guillon-Lethière · 1822

Front cover of a worn, dark red leather-bound book, shown against a pale background. The cover is scuffed and faded, with a small lighter mark near the center and a raised spine edge on the left side. No title or text is visible.Book

Secondary source

La vie de J.J. Dessalines, chef des noirs révoltés de Saint-Domingue

Louis Dubroca · 1804

Engraving of a crowned man seated on a throne under draped curtains, wearing an ermine-trimmed robe and surrounded by rows of men in dark European-style coats. A checkered floor and columns frame the scene. Spanish caption below reads Coronacion de Juan Santiago Desalines primer Emperador de Hayti.Painting

Secondary source

Coronacion de Juan Santiago Desalines primer Emperador de Hayti

Francisco Moscard Yedra · 1806

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Jean-Jacques Dessalines now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions