Turner, Joseph Mallord William (Art des/Manner of)

Description:

London 1775 - 1851
37,5 x 45,5 cm
Sailing ships at sunset before an approaching storm. Oil/panel, verso two labels with inscription and numbering "268 Miss Rogers".
Old Southern German private collection. The painting is based on The Slave Ship (originally titled "Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying - Typhon coming on") in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In this classic example of a Romantic maritime painting, Turner depicts a ship visible in the background, sailing through a tumultuous sea of churning water and leaving scattered human forms floating in its wake. Turner was possibly moved to paint The Slave Ship after reading about the slave ship Zong in The History and Abolition of the Slave Trade by Thomas Clarkson in the second edition which was published in 1839. The initial exhibition of the painting in 1840 coincided with international abolitionist campaigns.