Shop art print and framed art The Slave Ship by Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Slave Ship, from its full name Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon coming on, is a painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner. It was first exhibited in 1840 at the Royal Academy in London and is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In this romantic maritime depiction, Turner shows a ship, visible in the background, sailing through a tumultuous sea, leaving many scattered human forms floating in its wake. J.M.W. Turner's painting is said to have been inspired by reading Thomas Clarkson's The History and Abolition of the Slave Trade. In 1781, the captain of the slave ship Zong ordered 133 slaves thrown overboard so that he could collect insurance payments for "loss at sea". This event probably inspired Turner to create his landscape. The painter chose to hold his exhibition at the same time as a conference of abolitionist organisations. Although slavery had been banned in the British Empire since 1833, Turner and many abolitionists believed that slavery should also be universally abolished - the Spanish, Portuguese and French still practised it. Turner exhibited his work during the conference, so that Prince Albert, who was speaking at the event, could see it and be touched by it. The aim of this approach was to increase British efforts to combat slavery. Next to the painting is a poem, The Illusion of Despair, written by Turner himself in 1812: The first impression created by the painting is that of a huge dark red sunset over a stormy sea, like an [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the romanticism style.

 

Find the full description of The Slave Ship by Joseph Mallord William Turner on Wikipedia.