November 15, 2025
Twice a year, Bayou Bend’s Carol and Les Ballard Lecture Series presents renowned scholars who speak about important aspects of American decorative and fine arts.

Zara Anishanslin, associate professor of history and art history at the University of Delaware, uncovers the overlooked role of Patriot artists—women, enslaved and free Black men, and people of mixed race—who shaped the American Revolution through art, espionage, and activism in London and Paris as well as North America. Their work helped inspire rebellion and forge a new political culture, almost always armed with wax, paint, and wit rather than a musket or bayonet.

Among these daring figures were Patience Wright, a Long Island–born wax sculptor who used her London wax museum to run an international spy ring; North America’s first identifiable enslaved portrait painter, Prince Demah, who studied in London before enlisting to fight for the Patriots; and Robert Edge Pine, the award-winning British artist likely of African descent who trained Demah before emigrating to America. Together, the experiences of this extraordinary artistic cohort testify to both the promise and the limits of liberty in the founding era. 

Plan Your Visit

• Admission is free.
• The lecture takes place in the Kilroy Visitor and Education Center at Bayou Bend.
• For more information, or to reserve a seat, email [email protected] or call 713.639.7762.

About the Speaker
Zara Anishanslin is associate professor of history and art history at the University of Delaware, where she also serves as director of the Museum Studies and Public Engagement Program. Her research focuses on early America and the Atlantic World, with a concentration on material culture and public history. Her award-winning first book was Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World, and her new book is The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution. An avid public historian, Anishanslin has worked with numerous museums on exhibitions, including the reinstallation of the Early American Wing at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She is also the creator/co-host of the podcast Thing 4 Things: The History Podcast Where Things Matter and Stuff Happens and served as material culture consultant for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: The Exhibition.