{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O127392"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127392/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM3220/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM3220/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM3220","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O127392/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O127392","accessionNumber":"E.1215H-1886","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Family of Negro Slaves from Loango","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"The Dutch captured the British colony of Suriname during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1667). Under the West India Company it was developed as a plantation slave society and became a primary destination for the Dutch slave trade. The brutal regime caused high mortality; despite the import of 300,000 slaves between 1668 and 1823, the population never grew beyond 50,000. ‘Maroonage’ became the major form of resistance. Fugitive slaves, or ‘maroons’, escaped inland to form permanent communities from where they waged a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the Dutch.\r\n\r\nIn 1774 the Scottish-Dutch soldier John Gabriel Stedman witnessed the brutal oppression of slaves during a campaign against the maroons, which he described in his <i>Narrative of a Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam</i>. The book, which included illustrations by William Blake, was adopted by thosw who advocated the abolition of the slave trade, though Stedman was thought to support reform rather than abolition. This image reflects Stedman’s ambivalence towards slavery by offering the reader the possibility of a slave family in a ‘state of tranquil happiness, which they always enjoy under a humane and indulgent master’.","physicalDescription":"Print depicting a black family. A man carries a basket of small fishes on his head and holds a big one in his right hand. A pregnant woman carries fruit on her head, a baby on her back and has a small child at her heels. She is smoking a pipe and holds a spindle at the same time.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Blake, William","id":"A3132"},"association":{"text":"printmaker","id":"AAT25164"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"etching (printing process)","id":"AAT53241"},{"text":"engraving (printing process)","id":"AAT53225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Etching and engraving on paper","categories":[{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Slavery & Abolitionism","id":"THES49008"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Caribbean","id":"THES286921"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BM3220"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF (VA)","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"TOPIC","shelf":"4","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1796","earliest":"1796-01-01","latest":"1796-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.1215A-1886","id":"O127411"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215B-1886","id":"O127408"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215C-1886","id":"O127406"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215D-1886","id":"O127404"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215E-1886","id":"O127399"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215F-1886","id":"O127397"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215G-1886","id":"O127394"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215I-1886","id":"O127391"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215J-1886","id":"O127389"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215K-1886","id":"O127387"},"association":"Set"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"19.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Bottom right:\r\nBlake Sculpt.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"NB: The term \"negro\" was used historically to describe people of black African heritage but, since the 1960s, has fallen from usage and, increasingly, is considered offensive. The term is repeated here in its original historical context.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Family of Negro Slaves from Loango', illustration to the publication <i>Narrative of Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam</i> by Gabriel Stedman, etching and engraving by William Blake, London, 1796","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Slaves","id":"AAT230899"},{"text":"children","id":"x31526"},{"text":"fishes","id":"x30068"},{"text":"spindle","id":"AAT40400"},{"text":"baskets","id":"AAT194498"},{"text":"pipe","id":"AAT248067"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.1215H-1886"],"accessionNumberNum":"1215","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1886,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-06","recordCreationDate":"2006-08-24","availableToBook":false}}