111. Slave Ship (slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On). Joseph Mallord William Turner. 1840 CE Oil on Canvas.

• Form
  • Color expresses emotions
  • Rapid brushwork
  • Recognizable forms–the ships, the hands, the chains–are reduced in size and pale in comparison with the mightiness of the turbulent seascape
  • The bloody sunset acts as a symbol of the scene taking place
  • Use of the sublime enhances dramatic impact
• Context
  • Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1840, with an excerpt from Turner’s own poem called “The Fallacies of Hope:”
    • “Aloft all hands, strike the top-masts and belay; Yon angry setting sun and fierce-edged clouds Declare the Typhon’s coming. Before it sweeps your decks, throw overboard The dead and dying–ne’er heed their chains Hope, Jope, fallacious Hope! Where is they market now?”
  • Based on a true story, an event in 1781 in which a slave ship, the Zong, sailed for the Americans full of slaves
  • The slaves were insured against accidental drowning, but not insured against sickness; a policy instituted to force captains to treat slaves humanely
  • Knowing that he would not collect insurance money on sick and dying slaves, the captain cast them overboard.
  • Turner’s painting was inspired by an account of the scandal published in a book by Thomas Clarkson, which had been printed in 1839
  • England freed the slaves in 1833 by an act of Parliament, however, there were exceptions, which were not addressed until 1843
  • Nature responds to the inhumanity of the slave trade