Name: Voices of Rebellion and Unity
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 7 min 33 s
Description: The 1857 Uprising: Voices of Rebellion and Unity

Question

What do visual representations tell us about the revolt of 1857? How do historians analyse these representations?

Accepted Answer

(i) Pictorial images were produced by both British and Indians painters. These pictures are an important record of the mutiny. British pictures in particular provoked a range of emotions and reactions. They presented a variety of images that have led the people to pertain different ideas about the rebels and the British and their treatment towards these people were influenced.

(ii) Some British images pay tribute to the British heroes who served the English, for example, ‘Relief of Lucknow’ painted by Thomas Jones Barker, presented James Outrom, Henry Havelock and Colin Campbell as heroes for repressing the rebels who had besieged British garrison in Lucknow in $1859$ .

(iii) Newspapers reported incidents which led to demands for revenge and retribution. The British government had to protect the women and children. Artists have tried to express the feelings of trauma and suffering through their visual representations

(iv) “In memoriam” painted by Joseph Noel Paton portrays English women and children helpless huddled in circle waiting for their fate, which was imagined by them through the various reportings and portrayals of the rebels as brutal and heartless.

(v) Portrait of heroes of rebellion, the dead and injured indicate the sufferings which occurred during the siege. The triumphant figures of heroes emphasised the fact that British rule had been reestablished and the rebellion suppressed.

(vi) The British demonstrated their invincibility through pictorial images for example, in an image a female figure of justice with a sword in one hand a shield in the other is shown. Her posture is aggressive, her facial expression show anger and a desire for revenge. She is presented in a heroic image.

(vii) In certain sketches and paintings women were depicted as heroes. They are represented as defending themselves and struggling to save their honour. It was a battle to save the honour of Christianity. A book lying on the floor symbolises the Bible

What do visual representations tell us about the revolt of 1857? How do historians analyse these representations?

Important Questions on Rebels and the Raj the Revolt of 1857 and its Representations

Learn and Prepare for any exam you want !