Slave Ship is now perhaps Turner’s most famous work. The painting contains a ship being tossed on a stormy sea as an even bigger maelstrom begins to cover up the sun. In the water we find desperate souls who are in the midst of drowning or perhaps meeting an even worse fate at the hands of the mystic sea creatures hiding in between the waves. The story behind this painting is as horrifying as the image suggests. In the 18^th century, the most profitable action to take when a slave was dying was to throw him or her overboard; a slave lost at sea was worth more than a dead slave when ships made their destination. The storm itself represents a kind of divine retribution for the actions of the slave driver.

The isolation here is Turner’s own. Even at the best moments of his life, he was no social butterfly. He epitomized the idea of the eccentric artist. However, this particular painting brought public condemnation down on him like no other. Critics had a field day. They almost didn’t know which aspect of the painting to lampoon first. They ridiculed its title—the full name is Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhoon Coming on—as well as the nine lines of self-authored poetry that Turner chose to exhibit next to it when it was first hung as an anti-slavery painting. They criticized it for being overwrought. Overall, the painting was initially a disaster. And yet, by the end of the 19^th century, it had become his masterpiece. Its brilliance became clearer once it was removed from the political firestorm raging over slavery at the time of its initial reception. All this came too late for Turner, who died virtually alone in 1851.