Slave Trade

1791

John Raphael Smith after George Morland

Associated Names
John Raphael Smith

Artist, British, 1752 - 1812

George Morland

Artist After, British, 1763 - 1804

This print shows individuals being forced into a small boat. A group is gathered to the left of center, with a dog nearby, and distant people on horseback move away under a landscape of palm trees and a clouded sky. In the center, two men with light skin restrain a man with dark skin, with one raising a whip or wooden switch. A woman and child with dark skin look on in distress as a man with light skin stands next to them and gestures off to the right. Near the bottom-right corner, a small rowboat is on the shore with two people sitting in it. One of the people in the boat appears to have dark skin and is hiding their face in their hands. In the background, a large ship is anchored by the coast on the left.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    mezzotint on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Paul Mellon Fund

  • Dimensions

    plate: 48.2 x 66.5 cm (19 x 26 3/16 in.)
    sheet: 48.5 x 66.5 cm (19 1/8 x 26 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2001.118.62

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Chaloner Smith 1884, undescribed

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Christopher Lennox-Boyd; (Nicholas Stogdon, Oxford); purchased 2001 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2021

  • Afro-Atlantic Histories, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, 2021-2024 (shown in Washington, Los Angeles, and Dallas), no repro.

Bibliography

1884

  • Smith, John Chaloner. British mezzotinto portraits, being a descriptive catalogue of these engravings from the introduction of the art to the early part of the present century. 4 vols. London: Henry Sotheran and Co., 1884.

1902

  • Frankau, Julia. John Raphael Smith: His Life and Works. London: MacMillan and Co., 1902.

2021

  • Pedrosa, Adriano, and Toledo, Tomàs, editors.Afro-Atlantic Histories. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 2021-2022.

Inscriptions

lower left in plate: Painted by G Morland; lower center in plate: SLAVE TRADE / London Publish'd Feby. 1. 1791. by J. R. Smith. King Street Covent Garden; lower right in plate: Engrav'd by J.R. Smith. Mezzotints Engraver. To his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; across lower center: lo! the poor Captive with distraction wild / Views his dear Partner torn from his embrace! / A diff'rent Captain buys his Wife and Child / What time can from his Soul such ills erase?
…

Wikidata ID

Q76346385

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