Why it matters
A ship sails through a raging sea as a typhoon approaches, leaving scattered human forms floating in its wake. Turner may have been moved by the story of the slave ship Zong, whose captain threw 132 enslaved people overboard to claim insurance.
Did you know?
- Its original title is Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying: Typhon coming on.
- It was first exhibited in 1840, when international abolitionist campaigns were at their height.
- It is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Based on the Wikipedia article The Slave Ship (CC BY-SA 4.0).
