History of Art Research Seminar Series TT 2022
'A Frame for Thomas Stothard's Voyage of the Sable Venus (1794)'
Professor Cora Gilroy-Ware (Department of History of Art, University of Oxford) will be presenting.
Event open to all to attend. For enquiries, please contact Alexandra Solovyev (alexandra.solovyev@history.ox.ac.uk)
Reproduced as an engraving by William Grainger, Thomas Stothard’s lost painting The Voyage of the Sable Venus on her Journey from Angola to the West Indies depicts an enslaved woman in the guise of the Roman goddess of love. Due to its striking and unusual imagery, this British print has since been adapted by several African American practitioners, including, most recently, Kara Walker in her installation for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. The original circumstances of the image’s production, however, are rarely taken into account. This talk locates the Sable Venus in time, taking a close look at the publication in which it was first circulated.
The event is open to all and will be followed by a reception at St John's College. Please note that this lecture will be held at a different location from previous lectures in the series.
