Commemorating Cornwallis: Sculpture in India 1792-1813.
In: Visual Culture in Britain, Jg. 11 (2010-07-01), Heft 2, S. 173-194
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Zugriff:
Marquis Charles Cornwallis played a pivotal role in the formation of the British Empire in India. His heroic victories over Tippoo Sultan, the 'tiger of Mysore', coupled with his effective governance over the region, saw him quickly established as the iconic figurehead of Britain's imperial ambitions. He was lauded in the press for his abilities as a 'patriot', 'statesman' and 'warrior', and lionized in poems, plays and paintings for the magnanimous way in which he treated his defeated enemies. It was perhaps in the field of sculpture that some of the most potent, persuasive and expensive celebrations of Cornwallis were made. This article focuses on the first two monuments commissioned by British inhabitants in India to commemorate Cornwallis' achievements as governor general: the 1792-1800 Madras statue by Thomas Banks and the 1793-1805 monument commissioned by the residents of Calcutta, designed by John Bacon senior and completed by his son John Bacon junior. Both works were designed under extraordinary circumstances and offer fascinating case studies of the way in which public sculpture, commissioned by patriotic citizens and destined for Britain's distant colonies, could be hijacked by the aspirations and machinations of others. This article deals with each sculptural commission in turn: assessing, first, the Royal Academy's abortive attempts to use the Madras commission as a vehicle to disseminate its own aesthetic ambitions for a British school of sculpture and, second, the profound suspicion the Calcutta monument generated as a result of its liberal attempt to promote a 'new vision' of empire in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Commemorating Cornwallis: Sculpture in India 1792-1813.
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Burnage, Sarah |
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Zeitschrift: | Visual Culture in Britain, Jg. 11 (2010-07-01), Heft 2, S. 173-194 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2010 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 1471-4787 (print) |
DOI: | 10.1080/14714781003784249 |
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