STAINED GLASS WINDOW AT THE CATHEDRAL OF THE LILY WHITE SLAVE OWNERS Print

Di Falco created three drawings from this work (Diagram of the Brookes Slave Ship, from the British Museum’s Collection) before he began the transfer of his drawing to two etching plates—which were later developed in Nitric acid. The individual etching plates each measured 6-inches wide by 9-inches high (16.240cm by 22.860cm). The overall image size, including a small separation space between the top and bottom plates, measured 6-inches wide by 18.25-inches high (16.240cm by 36.355cm). The print, executed on RivesBFK white etching paper, measured 24-inches high by 12-inches wide (60.960cm x 30.480cm). A blend of French black etching inks (Charbonnel brand) was employed. This work is from the FIRST EDITION (of FOUR EDITIONS), with all editions being limited to only four etchings. After the ink dried, Di Falco hand-painted his etchings with watercolors (Winsor Newton brand from the UK). The work ships to the collector in an archival mat and frame (about 28-inches by 16-inches, or 71.120cm by 40.640cm). Di Falco printed the etching by hand on a Charles Brand industrial printing press, made in New York City. He printed and published this series at The Center for Works on Paper within Fleisher Art’s Open Studio In Printmaking (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US). The following information is from the website: # Full title: The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament. Published: 1808, London Format: Print / Image Creator: Thomas Clarkson Usage terms: Public Domain Held by: British Library This diagram of the 'Brookes' slave ship is probably the most widely copied and powerful image used by those campaigning to abolish the slave trade in the late 18th century. Created in 1787, the image illustrates how enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas and depicts a slave ship loaded to its full capacity – 454 people crammed into the hold. The 'Brookes' sailed the passage from Liverpool via the west coast of Africa to islands in the Caribbean. Thomas Clarkson commented in his History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade (1808) that the 'print seemed to make an instantaneous impression of horror upon all who saw it, and was therefore instrumental, in consequence of the wide circulation given it, in serving the cause of the injured Africans'. By April 1787, the diagram was widely known across the UK appearing in newspapers, pamphlets, books and even posters pasted on the walls of coffee-houses and taverns. An image had rarely been used as a campaigning tool in this way before. In the late 18th century, demand for luxury goods among rich and poor alike grew rapidly. Popular commodities such as tea and coffee, sugar, tobacco and cotton clothing were all produced by enslaved labour in the plantations of the Americas. This booming demand in turn acted as a stimulus to the transatlantic slave trade. Though the exact human toll will never be known, perhaps 2,500,000 enslaved Africans perished in the unimaginable conditions on the ships that crossed between Africa and colonies in the Americas between the 16th and 18th centuries.