"Arrivée des colons Maroungous".

Drawing, pen and black ink on vellum paper, 24,5 x 34 cm, signed, numbered in pencil "51" and dated "A. Heins 1886" (some foxing, margins repaired).

Original design drawing for Jérôme Becker's "La vie en Afrique". In 1884, Becker (1850-1912), a Belgian explorer, was ordered to lead an expedition to Lake Tanganyika, including to the Marungu highlands in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, shortly after the land was first visited by the English explorer Richard Francis Burton in 1857-59. According to Burton, Marungu was at that time one of the sources of slaves collected by the Arabs and taken to the great slave market at Ujiji. This contribution to Becker's publication is a rare work by Armand Heins (1856-1938), who usually painted local topics.
Ref. Becker, J. - La vie en Afrique. Paris/Brussels, J. Lebègue & co., 1887, pp. 269, n. 51.