Slave Ship by Joseph Mallord William Turner

Slave Ship, 1840s, Romanticism, oil on canvas

Slave Ship is an oil on canvas painting that was made in 1840 by Joseph Mallord William Turner as part of the romanticism art movement. It was first unveiled at the Royal Academy exhibition and made after slavery was banned in England. Turner was inspired by Clarkson’s “History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament” (1839) and Thomson’s poem, “Summer” (1729). In 1840, slavery was still common in many countries. Enslaved people would be taken from Africa to Europe and the Americas with the Middle Passage, an extremely dangerous route for Africans. On the Middle Passage, Africans would be enclosed in incredibly tight areas, given little food, and, sometimes, ship workers would throw them overboard in order to get money from insurance companies. 

In Slave Ship, Turner depicts the horrifying experience of the Middle Passage. There is a ship stuck in a storm and the painting itself is divided into two major parts. On the left, there is a dark storm moving into the center of the piece of art. In contrast, the right side is still bright and has not been affected by the storm yet. In the water, there are people in the water trying to reach their arms out, but they are connected to chains pulling them downwards. This references a real event in which captains would throw healthy Africans overboard for insurance money. Creating this image, Turner forces viewers to confront human greed and exploitation.

Along with Turner’s painting, he also wrote a poem called The Fallacies of Hope, which focused on the terrifying scene of death. The title suggests that hope is misleading, specifically when it comes to slavery. He ended up never actually publishing this poem because he never considered it finished. 

By creating Slave Ship, Turner was making a statement on his strong dislike of slavery and how prominent the issue was. He was trying to convince the viewers to join the campaign for the abolition of slavery.