Envisaging a Future for Slavery: Agostino Brunias and the Imperial Politics of Labor and Reproduction

The paintings and prints of Agostino Brunias (1730–1796) served not only to visualize some of the British Empire's newest colonies following the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, but also to encourage settlement by presenting a utopian vision of slave societies that were content, wealthy, and, most importantly, self-sustaining. This article argues that Brunias's imagery contributed to the ameliorationist rhetoric that accompanied the rise of abolitionism in Britain. By avoiding scenes of plantation labor, discipline, and punishment, and emphasizing instead the refinement, robust health, and fertility of slaves and free people of color, it purported to confirm that amelioration could safeguard slavery's future.