Bowdoin College Museum of Art | - Plate to commemorate the abolition of the slave trade

Preview image of work. engraving on paper, Plate to commemorate the abolition of the slave trade 29226

2015.16

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Plate to commemorate the abolition of the slave trade

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Artist

Joseph Collyer (the Younger) (1782 - 1872)

Title

Plate to commemorate the abolition of the slave trade

Creation Date

1808

Century

early 19th century

Dimensions

13 3/4 x 1 15/16 in. (35 x 5 cm)

Object Type

Creation Place

Europe, United Kingdom

Medium and Support

engraving on paper

Credit Line

Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2015.16

This symbol-laden image triumphantly declares the end of the slave trade in the British-occupied Caribbean. Three female personifications of Britain (center), Justice (left), and Religion (right) announce the parliamentary victory of the Abolition Movement, led by William Wilberforce, who is depicted as a sculpted bust on the right. Both the image and caption celebrate the efforts of white statesmen and white institutions while making only indirect references to enslaved people: mainly, a scroll bearing a list of atrocities and the slave ship on the left. The print’s se lf-congratulatory message omits the immense financial investments in slavery at all levels of British society as well as determined opposition to abolition by enslavers. It also omits mention of the grassroots resistance efforts in the Caribbean, which were spurred on by Saint-Domingue’s years-long revolution against French domination and galvanized by Napoleon I’s reinstitution of slavery in the French colonies.