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History > 19th century
British empire, England, Ireland, Scotland, UK
Timeline in pictures
Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India r. 1837-1901 (1819-1901)
Queen Victoria, 1838 Thomas Sully (American, 1783–1872) Oil on canvas; 36 x 28 3/8 in. (91.4 x 71.5 cm) Bequest of Francis T. S. Darley, 1914 (14.126.1)
Sully executed this oil study over the course of four sittings at Buckingham Palace, the first of which was March 22, 1838.
That day, the artist wrote a fairly precise description of Victoria's appearance in his journal, noting that she was "of good form, particularly the neck and bosom."
While propriety forbade him from calling attention to her décolletage, he felt free to feature the attractive expanse of her back.
The greatest license Sully took in portraying Victoria as a lovely young woman was to express her sensuality.
This comes across in the oil study in which he described her neck and shoulders in the succulent, painterly style that characterizes his finest work. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsly/hd_tsly.htm
Queen Victoria, 1838 Thomas Sully (American, 1783–1872) Oil on canvas; 94 x 58 in. (238.8 x 147.3 cm) Lent by Mrs. Arthur A. Houghton Jr. (L.1993.45)
In an ingenious take on traditional state portraiture, Sully chose the moment of the queen's literal and physical ascendance in order to convey her dignity and humanity, her femininity and strength.
Ironically, she could not gracefully climb stairs. "It gives her pain to ascend or descend steps," Sully noted. "I fear [there is] something wrong in the knee." http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsly/hd_tsly.htm
Queen Victoria by Alexander Bassano, 1887 (1882).
Photograph: National Portrait Gallery London/Bendigo Art Gallery
From Henry VIII to the Windsors: inside the power of the royal portrait G Thu 14 Mar 2019 03.19 GMT Last modified on Thu 14 Mar 2019 16.48 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/mar/14/
Queen Victoria with her four eldest children, 1854, c.1880 copy of original by Roger Fenton.
Photograph: Royal Collection Trust
'Illume my life': Prince Albert's passions digitised for website G Fri 23 Aug 2019 00.01 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/23/
Queen Victoria r. 1837-1901 (1819-1901)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/victoria_queen.shtml http://www.pbs.org/empires/victoria/text.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/ https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsly/hd_tsly.htm http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/british/brit-3.html https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/queen-victoria
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/23/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jun/17/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/may/19/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/mar/14/
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/04/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/21/
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/sep/11/
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1901/jan/23/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/1901/jan/23/
1897
Benin City, originally called Edo, was once the capital of a pre-encounter African empire in what is now southern Nigeria.
It was one of the oldest states in west Africa, dating back to the 11th century.
At the height of the scramble for Africa, the “Benin expedition” of 1897 led to British troops punitively sacking the ancient city after it defied the British empire by imposing customs duties.
The city’s walls – at the time the world’s largest earthworks created in the pre-mechanised era and four times the length of the Great Wall of China – were razed.
The city was burned to the ground and its treasures looted.
Much of Benin’s artworks and artefacts were taken to Britain where many were auctioned as war booty or gifted to museums across Europe.
Hundreds of the stolen artefacts still reside in museums, galleries, universities and private collections across the UK.
The Benin bronzes, in particular, remain the subject of demands for repatriation.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/11/
Benin was crushed, its treasures stolen as if its people had produced nothing and knew nothing.
The destruction of Benin City happened at the most irrational period in the history of the empire, when Britain competed with the French, Germans and Belgians to grab as much of the African continent as possible.
Between 1880 and 1902 Britain seized Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, the Sudan and Rhodesia;
it established possession of South Africa and controlled eastern Africa from the Cape to the Suez Canal, fulfilling - partly - the megalomaniac dreams of imperialists such as Cecil Rhodes and Joseph Chamberlain.
The attack on Benin took place in the year of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, Empress of India.
The Daily Mail, voice of popular imperialism, had been founded the year before.
A year later Rudyard Kipling published The White Man's Burden: "Take up the White Man's Burden/ Send forth the best ye breed." https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/sep/11/2
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/11/
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/sep/11/
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Related
Let's end the myths of Britain's imperial past G 2011
David Cameron would have us look back to the days of the British empire with pride.
But there is little in the brutal oppression and naked greed with which it was built that deserves our respect
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/19/
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