Traite des Nègres (The Slave Trade)

George Morland|John Raphael Smith|Frédéric Etienne Joseph Feldtrappe

early 19th century · Cotton, roller printed · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Frederic Feldtrappe produced this textile in the early nineteenth century during a moment of intense debate in France over the viability and morality of the slave trade. Of the four narrative scenes, two reference earlier paintings by English artist George Moreland and contrast the brutality of European slave traders with the kindness of Africans who minister to a shipwrecked European family. The other two scenes, based on engravings by Frenchman Nicolas Colibert, juxtapose a happy African family with the appearance of European traders in Africa. Their cache of trade goods (including textiles) ominously foreshadows the horrors of the traffic in human beings.

Artist

George Morland|John Raphael Smith|Frédéric Etienne Joseph Feldtrappe

Date

early 19th century

Medium

Cotton, roller printed

Culture

French, Alsace

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1926