Artifact of Empire - 1830s

Artifact: Oil Painting. Creator: Alexander Rippingille. Made in Bristol, Britain. 1834. Found on ArtStor.org

URL: http://0-library.artstor.org.helin.uri.edu/library/welcome.html#3%7Csearch%7C1%7Crippingille%7CMultiple20Collection20Search%7C%7C%7Ctype3D3126kw3Drippingille26id3Dall26name3DAll20Collections26origKW3D

From: Image of the Black in Western Art: Harvard University

What is it?

My artifact is an oil painting that was made to commemorate and comment on the emancipation of slaves in the colonies of the British Empire. The Act for the Abolition of Slavery was given Royal Assent on August 1^st 1833. The painting, made circa 1834, shows a black slave family burying their shackles and holding up their arms in a gesture of gratitude. It is a one of a kind, unique painting made from oils on a canvas. The painting, entitled: To the Friends of Negro Emancipation, is an homage, and congratulatory work, for those who were part of the fight to push through the Act of Emancipation in 1833, and all the years in its prelude. The title might refer to those white Europeans who fought for the slaves, but the image itself is a congratulations to the blacks who were able, from then on, to cast off their shackles and never submit to white oppression again. Rippingille must have felt some sympathy for the slaves, otherwise, would he have painted such an image?

Context

Apart from India, whose laws fell under the ruling of the East India Company, the British colonies were to release all slaves and indentured servants from holding. This image of celebration captures a historic and politically charged event. The white slaver and slave owner lost a considerable amount of stock, in terms of produce, work force, investment and of course, money. The white man, in the colonies, would probably not have been happy at the emancipation of his slaves. Abolitionism was more of a domestic triumph of human rights and morals.

The industrial revolution, that began in Britain around 1750, provided an exponential increase in wealth, productivity, power and influence for the country. The British Empire had already existed for over a hundred years, the East India Company having established roots in India in the mid-1600s, but colonization of most of the Empire happened in the 1700s and 1800s. To further their goals of domination and wealth, the British established a slave trade to rival that of the Arabs (who dominated the east coast of Africa). Such slaves were captured on the West African coast, stowed on slave ships and delivered to colonies in the West Indies and the 13 American Colonies in exchange for financial and exotic produce including Tabaco and sugar cane.

In 1807, the Slave Trade was abolished. Slaves were no longer being taken from Africa by British ships. By 1823, the first Anti-Slavery Association was formed for the sole purpose of releasing all colony and motherland slaves from bondage.

In 1833, the emancipation bill was passed. In 1834, all slaves were totally freed from ownership, white or otherwise.

How does it relate to what we’ve read in class?

The book was published in 1847, a full 14 years after emancipation, but no direct mention of slavery occurs in Jane Eyre.. However, the character of Bertha Mason does give some insight into how people of color were portrayed in that time. Bertha is described as being a big woman, having a purple face, bloated features, thick and shaggy hair, swelled lips and wild stares. Almost as if to describe an animal (pg. 381). A creole is a derogatory term for a white-black hybrid, typically from a male plantation or slave owner and a female slave. Known as the outcast race, a creole is white enough to be accepted into British society but black enough to be treated with contempt as soon as they return home. “If they are sent to England to be educated, they are treated as gentlemen, and admitted into the best society; but when they return to the West Indies, they also return to their former position of compulsory debasement.” (Line 28-31 A View of West Indian society article) Bertha, whose mother was a creole, is at most ¾ white and a second generation creole. Yet, if she is described in such a way by a character like Jane Eyre, who is shown to be kind, learned and accepting, the colored person must have still been seen as animalistic and less than human (something which is clearly seen in the Herge comics of Tintin, even in the 1930s (100 years after emancipation)).

The black person, or former slave, remains in a down cast light even after s/he is freed.