William Henry Brooke, Preparatory Watercolor for “Slaves Shipping Cotton by Torch-Light” (1842) Livio Sanuto PIERRE JEAN FRANÇOIS TURPIN (FRENCH

PIERRE JEAN FRANÇOIS TURPIN (FRENCH

Signed lower left: P

Le Long’s mastery of gouache is evident in the velvety opacity of the pigments

the forests of the north

William Henry Brooke, Preparatory Watercolor for “Slaves Shipping Cotton by Torch-Light” (1842) Livio Sanuto PIERRE JEAN FRANÇOIS TURPIN (FRENCHThis rare preparatory drawing by William Henry Brooke served as the foundation for an early published visual critique of slavery in the United States. Created for James Silk Buckinghams The Slave States of America (London, 1842), the image records forced labor along the Alabama River with emotional restraint and historical clarity. Buckinghams account helped shape British public understanding of American slavery and the growing abolitionist movement.