101–132).
Figure 3.9 John Raphael Smith, after George Morland: Execrable Human Traffic or The Affectionate
Slaves, mezzotint, etching on paper, 46.3 × 64.8 cm, 1791. British Museum, London.
Source: © The Trustees of the British Museum.Images of blacks as active subjects became more common later in the century. Britain abolished the slave
trade in 1807 and (in principle if not in practice) slavery itself in 1830. In general more positive images
of black subjects emerged as antislavery writers and campaigners such as Phyllis Wheatley (1753–
1784), Ottabah Cugoano (c.1757–after 1791) and Olaudah Equiano (c.1745–1797) visited Europe; as did
the musician Ignatius Sancho (c.1729–1780) painted by Gainsborough: he had been born into a slaving
family before coming to Britain. Plantation households themselves sometimes developed class divisions
between slaves, some rising to more responsible household positions.
These small changes to the status of blacks meant that some were represented as European gentlemen
(occasionally undertaking the Grand Tour) or antique heroes (Ford, Cummins, McCrea and Weston, 2011,
262, 271–281). History painting also offered some limited but significant improvements in the roles
allocated to black figures, since the singularity of the event represented could normally allow this to
happen in a relatively nonthreatening way. Black figures featured prominently in some French, Italian
and British works on Christian and antique themes, even if they remained subordinate to the narrative and
compositional roles of white figures (Bindman, Boucher and Weston, 2011b, 105–114, 118–123; Ford,