{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O127399"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127399/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM3223/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM3223/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM3223","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O127399/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O127399","accessionNumber":"E.1215E-1886","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Group of Negroes, as imported to be sold for slaves","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 those who advocated the abolition of the slave trade, though Stedman was thought to support reform rather than abolition.\r\n\r\nIn the <i>Narrative</i> Stedman encounters a group of Africans travelling to be sold as slaves whom he describes as ‘walking skeletons covered over with a piece of tanned leather’. However, Blake’s image of a lively group sits at odds with Stedman’s vision of this ‘sad assemblage of my fellow-creatures’.","physicalDescription":"Print depicts a group of enslaved African people, naked but for loincloths. A white man directs them with a stick from behind. In the background the masts of a slave ship are just visible. A little dog is amongst them. There are plants and grass in the foreground.","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":["2007BM3223"],"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":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"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.1215F-1886","id":"O127397"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215G-1886","id":"O127394"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"E.1215H-1886","id":"O127392"},"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":"19.2","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":"'Group of Negroes, 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":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"slaves","id":"AAT230899"},{"text":"dog","id":"AAT24149"},{"text":"child","id":"x31382"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.1215E-1886"],"accessionNumberNum":"1215","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1886,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-06","recordCreationDate":"2006-08-24","availableToBook":false}}