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A Hyperallergic review examines Sam Smiles’s 2026 book, “Turner and the Slave Trade,” which reassesses J.M.W. Turner’s relationship to slavery and British colonial wealth. Smiles argues that “The Slave Ship” almost certainly does not depict the 1781 Zong massacre, while documenting Turner’s investment in a Jamaican cattle farm worked by enslaved people.
A new book by art historian Sam Smiles reexamines J.M.W. Turner’s relationship to slavery, arguing that the painter’s 1840 work “The Slave Ship” almost certainly does not refer to the Zong massacre. In a Hyperallergic review, the book is presented as a reassessment of Turner’s art and documented financial connection to Jamaican slavery, complicating his place in British art history.
In Turner and the Slave Trade, published in 2026, Smiles considers the artist’s painting, originally exhibited under the title “Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and the Dying–Typhoon Coming On.” The scene has often been associated with the Zong massacre, in which 133 enslaved Africans were thrown overboard in 1781. Smiles’s position, as described in the review, is that the painting is almost certainly not a direct reference to that event.
The book also examines Turner’s own financial history. Smiles traces a £100 investment made in 1805 in a consortium funding a Jamaican cattle farm operated by an enslaved African workforce. The review says Smiles first uncovered this investment in 2007. The book treats it not as an isolated inconsistency in Turner’s life, but as evidence of how slavery and colonial wealth were embedded in British society.
The review places the book within wider debates about museums, colonial archives and the representation of Black people. It notes that Smiles says he omitted offensive language and gratuitous imagery except where needed for the analysis. That editorial choice informs the book’s approach to documenting racial violence without reproducing its imagery unnecessarily.
Turner’s Reputation Meets the Archive
The reassessment matters because Turner remains a central figure in British art, while the history behind his work and wealth is still contested in public memory. The review describes “The Slave Ship” as a painting now often linked with the Zong massacre, but Smiles’s argument separates that familiar interpretation from the available historical claim about the painting’s subject.
At the same time, the documented investment complicates accounts of Turner as merely a painter observing the moral questions of his era. Smiles’s analysis, as reported by Hyperallergic, connects the artist’s finances to a broader system in which enslaved labor generated colonial wealth. The book therefore asks readers to consider not only what Turner painted, but how his economic choices fit within that system.
The review also connects this inquiry to present-day questions about cultural institutions and historical responsibility. In a period when museums are being asked to reassess the stories they tell, a more detailed account of an artist’s ties to slavery can affect how audiences interpret canonical works, without requiring claims beyond the evidence presented.
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From the Zong to Turner’s Investment
The Zong massacre took place in 1781, when 133 enslaved Africans were killed after being thrown overboard from the ship. Turner’s “The Slave Ship” was shown at the Royal Academy in 1840, with a title explicitly referring to enslavers casting dead and dying people into the sea as a typhoon approached. The shared subject of maritime violence has helped make the painting closely associated with the massacre.
Smiles, an emeritus art historian at the University of Plymouth, co-curated the Tate’s 2014 traveling exhibition Late Turner: Painting Set Free, according to the review. His earlier discovery of Turner’s 1805 investment provides a separate documentary strand in the book’s account. The review also notes that the discussion takes place amid current reparations debates, including a petition by Jamaicans to King Charles reported as being delivered in London on September 7; the supplied material does not specify the year.
“The tableau of “The Slave Ship” is almost certainly not a reference to the Zong massacre.”
— Sam Smiles, as characterized in the Hyperallergic review
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What the Painting Can Establish
The supplied review does not provide the underlying evidence in detail for Smiles’s conclusion about the painting’s subject, so readers cannot assess from this material alone how he weighs competing interpretations. The claim is presented as “almost certainly” rather than as an absolute finding.
The review also does not describe the terms of Turner’s investment, the farm’s full history, or how directly the artist was involved in its operation. It reports the investment and that the farm used enslaved labor, but further particulars would be needed to establish the extent of Turner’s knowledge or responsibility. The year of the September 7 reparations petition is likewise not provided.
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Questions for Readers and Museums
The immediate next step for readers is to consult Smiles’s full book for the documentary basis behind its claims and its account of Turner’s changing views. The supplied material does not identify a forthcoming exhibition, institutional decision or official response connected to the publication.
As museums and art historians continue to examine how colonial wealth shaped British culture, the book’s arguments may inform discussion of how Turner’s work is displayed and explained. Whether that leads to changes in interpretation or programming remains unclear; the review reports no such decision.
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Key Questions
What is Sam Smiles’s book about?
Turner and the Slave Trade examines J.M.W. Turner’s relationship to slavery, including his art, an 1805 investment in a Jamaican cattle farm, and the wider colonial economy.
Does Smiles say “The Slave Ship” depicts the Zong massacre?
No. According to the Hyperallergic review, Smiles argues the painting is almost certainly not a reference to the 1781 massacre.
What was Turner’s documented connection to slavery?
The review says Smiles found that Turner invested £100 in 1805 in a consortium funding a Jamaican cattle farm operated by enslaved Africans. The supplied material does not give further details about Turner’s role.
Why does this reassessment matter?
It complicates how audiences understand a major British artist by connecting his financial history to slavery and colonial wealth, while revisiting a well-known interpretation of one of his paintings.
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