A Caribbean Voice in the Heart of Neoclassicism Guillaume Guillon-Lethière’s story is one of remarkable resilience and artistic ambition, a narrative woven from the complexities of colonial history and the fervor of revolutionary France. Born in 1760 in Saint-Anne, Guadeloupe—a French possession brimming with both opulent plantations and the brutal reality of slavery—his very existence challenged the rigid social hierarchies of the time. His father, Pierre Guillon, was a Royal Notary, representing the authority of colonial administration, while his mother, Marie-Françoise Dupepaye, was a wom…