The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840

What it is

This is an 1841 history painting by Benjamin Robert Haydon showing the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London in 1840. It depicts the elderly abolitionist Thomas Clarkson addressing over 500 delegates, with figures including Daniel O'Connell, Amelia Opie, and former slave Henry Beckford identified among the crowd. It is held by the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Why it matters

Although women were present, a vote at the convention rejected letting them attend as full delegates, so they had to sit as observers. Haydon took the liberty of placing nine women in prominent positions in his painting anyway. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was present at this convention, credited the exclusion of women as something that pushed her toward organizing for women's rights.

Look closer

• Why might the painter have placed women prominently in the scene even though they were excluded from voting as delegates?
• What does the seating and placement of people in the painting suggest about status and power at the convention?
• Who is missing or pushed to the edges of this image, and why might that matter?