The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840
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by Benjamin Robert Haydon
oil on canvas, 1841 117 in. x 151 in. (2972 mm x 3836 mm) Given by British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1880 |
In 1787 a small, mainly Quaker group led by Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) formed The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Their cause seemed hopeless as slavery was crucial to Britain's economy but popular feeling was on their side. The French Revolution and the backlash against British Radicalism temporarily stalled the campaign for anti-slavery campaign. The Society's Parliamentary spokesman William Wilberforcefinally oversaw the triumphant passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807. The Great Reform Act of 1832 swept away many of the old pro-slavery MPs and the final emancipation of slaves in British colonies was effected in 1833. This monumental painting records the 1840 convention of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society which was established to promote worldwide abolition. A frail and elderly Clarkson addresses a meeting of over 500 delegates. Identifiable portraits include the liberated slave Henry Beckford (b. c. 1809), in the foreground, the Irish Radical Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) and the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845). Haydon later wrote: 'a liberated slave, now a delegate, is looking up to Clarkson with deep interest … this is the point of interest in the picture, and illustrative of the object in painting it, the African sitting by the intellectual European, in equality and intelligence'.
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| Charcoal and chalk on paper, 54 × 76,2 cm |
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| Punch or Mayday oil on canvas, 1505 x 1801mm, 1829 |
Haydon was an enthusiastic Londoner. He wanted to catch the city’s fizz and energy in this picture, as well as the enduring traditions of ‘Old England’ such as the festivities of May Day. A crowd of mixed classes, ages and races mingles with a costumed procession and a Punch and Judy show in the Marylebone Road.Haydon thought of calling the picture simply Life. But he included an ironic comment on English philistinism: an Italian selling casts and statues but finding few buyers. Haydon, a history painter by preference, believed his own art was under-appreciated.
