The Slave Ship
ArtistJ.M.W. Turner
Year1840
MediumOil on canvas
LocationMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston
About The Slave Ship
Depicts the Zong massacre where 132 enslaved people were thrown overboard for insurance money. The blood-red sunset and churning sea express moral outrage. Fish and sea creatures feed on human bodies in the foreground. Turner published a poem alongside it condemning slavery.
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