Yesterday and at the National Gallery again - and we saw some examples of Portraits which were connected with Britain's involvement in the slave trade -Leslie the course leader reminded the group how England faced two ways on Slavery amassing large amounts of money but in some ways being disapproving of the practice.
The first portrait of Lord Chief of Justice (William Murray) who ruled against the right of recapture of a black slave. This painting was by John Singleton Copley an Anglo American artist.
 |
| Lord Chief Justice |
My favourite of the paintings was probably the portrait of Erasmus Darwin (related to Charles Darwin) by Joseph Wright of Derby (I like the reflection of the sitter's hand in the table) - this painter is one of my favourite English Painters.
 |
| Erasmus Darwin (Physician) by Joseph Wright of Derby - look at the reflected hand |
I also liked the painting of Mary Lloyd by George Romney - the Gallery has hung this on the other side of an arch from a rather mannered self portrait by the Swiss (female) artist Angelica Kauffman.
 |
| and Mary Lloyd by George Romney |
 |
| A self portrait by Angelica Kaufman |
The painting by Haydon is less successful as art but a useful documentation regarding the feeling amongst abolitionists particularly Quakers.
Haydon struggled with this work and it could have been one of the difficulties and a contributory factor around his taking of his own life
 |
| Visitors take a look at a meeting of The Anti Slavery Society Convention - 1841 by Haydon |
And a panorama of a wet Trafalgar square by me..
 |
| A synthesised view |
No comments:
Post a Comment