Artwork Description:
full title--STAINED GLASS WINDOW AT THE CATHEDRAL OF THE LILY WHITE SLAVE OWNERS
DiFalco created three drawings from this work, Diagram of the Brookes Slave Ship, from the British Museum’s Collection, before he transferred his drawing onto two etching plates, which were later developed in Nitric acid. The individual etching plates each measured 6 inches wide by 9 inches high, or 16.240cm by 22.860cm. The overall image size, including a small separation space between the top and bottom plates, measured 6 inches wide by 18.25-high, or 16.240cm by 36.355cm. The print, executed on RivesBFK white etching paper, measured 24 inches high by 12 inches wide, or 60.960cm x 30.480cm. A blend of French black etching inks, Charbonnel brand, was employed. This work is from the FIRST EDITION of FOUR EDITIONS, with all editions being limited to only four etchings. After the ink dried, DiFalco hand painted his etchings with watercolors, Winsor Newton brand from the UK. The work ships to the collector in an archival mat and frame, about 28 inches by 16 inches, or 71.120cm by 40.640cm. DiFalco hand printed the etching on a Charles Brand industrial printing press, made in New York City. He printed and published this series at The Center for Works on Paper within Fleisher Arts Open Studio In Printmaking, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. The following information is from the website https www. bl. uk collection-items diagram-of-the-brookes-slave-shipFull title
The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by theBritish Parliament.
Published 1808, London
Format Print Image
Creator Thomas ClarksonUsage terms Public Domain
Held by British LibraryThis diagram of theBrookesslave ship is probably the most widely copied and powerful image used by those campaigning to abolish the slave trade in the late 18th century. Created in 1787, the image illustrates how enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas and depicts a slave ship loaded to its full capacity – 454 people crammed into the hold. TheBrookessailed the passage from Liverpool via the west coast of Africa to islands in the Caribbean.
Thomas Clarkson commented in his History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade1808that theprint seemed to make an instantaneous impression of horror upon all who saw it, and was therefore instrumental, in consequence of the wide circulation given it, in serving the cause of the injured Africans. By April 1787, the diagram was widely known across the UK appearing in newspapers, pamphlets, books and even posters pasted on the walls of coffee-houses and taverns. An image had rarely been used as a campaigning tool in this way before.
In the late 18th century, demand for luxury goods among rich and poor alike grew rapidly. Popular commodities such as tea and coffee, sugar, tobacco and cotton clothing were all produced by enslaved labour in the plantations of the Americas. This booming demand in turn acted as a stimulus to the transatlantic slave trade. Though the exact human toll will never be known, perhaps 2,500,000 enslaved Africans perished in the unimaginable conditions on the ships that crossed between Africa and colonies in the Americas between the 16th and 18th centuries.
Keywords:
Slavery, Slave Ship, 18th Century, American History, African History, Original Mixed Media, History Mixed Media