ID: 700000335 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700000335	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1 2

Slave Ship (oil painting (visual work); Joseph Mallord William Turner, English, 1775–1851; 1840; Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts, ...; 99.22; )

Note: One of Turner’s most celebrated works, Slave Ship is a striking example of the artist’s fascination with violence, both human and elemental. The painting was based on a poem that described a slave ship caught in a typhoon, and on the true story of the slave ship Zong whose captain, in 1781, had thrown overboard sick and dying slaves so that he could collect insurance money available only for slaves “lost at sea.” Turner captures the horror of the event and terrifying grandeur of nature through hot, churning color and light that merge sea and sky. The critic John Ruskin, the first owner of Slave Ship, wrote, “If I were reduced to rest Turner’s immortality upon any single work, I should choose this.” Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840. Turner accompanied this painting with an excerpt of his poem "Fallacies of Hope" (1812).

Titles:

Slave Ship (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On) (C,U,RD,undetermined,U,U)

Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On (C,U,DE,undetermined,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

oil painting (visual work) [300033799] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>, paintings (visual works), <paintings by material or technique>)

Classifications:

paintings (preferred)

Creation Date: 1840

Creator Display:

Joseph Mallord William Turner, English, 1775–1851 [preferred,VP]

painter Turner, Joseph Mallord William (English painter and draftsman, 1775-1851) Extent: execution [500026846]

Locations:

Current: Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts, United States) [500305147] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 99.22

Credit Line: Henry Lillie Pierce Fund

Display Materials: oil on canvas

	oil paint (paint) [300015050]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>, paint (coating), <paint by composition or origin>)

Dimensions: 90.8 x 122.6 cm (35 3/4 x 48 1/4 in.)

Cultures:

European (preferred)

Style/Period/Group/Movement:

	Romantic (modern European styles) [300172863] (preferred,N/A)
	.....(Styles and Periods Facet, Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), <styles| periods| and cultures by region>, European, <modern European styles and movements>)

General Subject:

seascapes (preferred)

allegory

history and legend

Specific Subjects:

	seascape [300117546]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by subject type>) (AAT)

	slave ships [300233279]
	.....(Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Transportation Vehicles (hierarchy name), vehicles (transportation), watercraft, <watercraft by specific type>, <watercraft by function>, merchant vessels, <merchant vessels by cargo type>, cargo vessels) (AAT)

	typhoon [300054739]
	.....(Activities Facet, Events (hierarchy name), events (activities), natural events, storms, cyclones) (AAT)

	slavery [300055309]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), social science concepts, sociological concepts, social issues) (AAT)

Provenance: Consigned by the artist to his dealer, Thomas Griffith (b. 1795); December, 1843, sold by Griffith to John James Ruskin (b. 1785 - d. 1864), London, for his son, John Ruskin (b. 1819 - d. 1900) [see note 1]; April 15, 1869, Ruskin sale, Christie's, London, lot 50, unsold; 1872, sold by Ruskin, through William T. Blodgett (b. about 1832 - d. 1875), New York, to John Taylor Johnston (b. 1820 - d. 1893), New York [see note 2]; December 19-22, 1876, Johnston sale, American Art Association, New York, lot 76, to Alice Sturgis Hooper (d. 1879), Boston [see note 3]; by descent to her nephew, William Sturgis Hooper Lothrop, Boston; 1899, sold by William Lothrop to the MFA for $65,000. (Accession Date: February 24, 1899)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Slave Ship	........ [VP]
	........ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston [online] (2003-) accessed 7 March 2018
Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On)	........ [VP]
	........ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston [online] (2003-)
Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On	........ [VP]
	........ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston [online] (2003-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

....................... Museum of Fine Arts, Boston [online] (2003-)

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Museum of Fine Arts, Boston [online] (2003-) accessed 7 March 2018