D7489-001

A Female Negro Slave, with a Weight chained to her Ankle Long Caption: John Gabriel Stedman (1744–97) was born in the Netherlands. His Scottish father was in Dutch service in the Scots Brigade, which Stedman also joined. In 1771 he volunteered to serve in the Dutch colony of Surinam to put down a slave rebellion. Shortly after his arrival in 1773, he married a mixed-race woman called Joanna and they had a son, who died in 1792 as a midshipman in the Royal Navy. He left Surinam in 1777, leaving Joanna, who was still enslaved, behind. She died in 1782, by which time Stedman had already remarried a Dutch woman. His extensive memoir of his time in Surinam, published in 1793 with a second edition in 1806, is one of the most detailed contemporary accounts of life in a slave society. Stedman was an enthusiastic artist, and produced over 100 images to illustrate his narrative, to which were added a number commissioned by the publisher, including 16 by William Blake. Credit line: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London Object: ZBA2579 Artist: Francesco Bartolozzi; after John Gabriel Stedman; J. Johnson Date: 1 December 1795 Medium: stipple engraving Size: 271 x 200 mm Click here to buy a bespoke print of this image.