Jeff Rosen: Julia Margaret Cameron, Prince Alamayou, and the “Secret of England’s Greatness”
In June 1868, as Great Britain was concluding its war with Abyssinia, the British army stormed the mountaintop stronghold of King Theodore, deposing the child Prince Alamayou, leaving him orphaned and alone. In July, the young boy was transported from Africa to Freshwater on the Isle of Wight in the care of a British officer. Soon thereafter, he was escorted to Julia Margaret Cameron’s studio, becoming the subject of numerous photographs that Cameron copy-righted on July 23, 27, and 29. Cameron clearly hoped to take advantage of the popular news of Britain’s military triumph as much as Queen Victoria’s expressed interest in his welfare and future upbringing. On July 15, 1868, for example, the Illustrated London News wrote the following: “Theodore’s son is at present staying in the Isle of Wight with Captain Speedy. He is to be brought up as the son of an English gentleman, with the view of his entering the Indian Civil Service.”
This presentation examines Cameron’s photographs of Prince Alamayou along two distinct axes: Britain’s so-called civilizing mission to educate and shape the world in its image defined her first approach to portraying the Abyssinian prince. As a result, she initially depicted the child as an unworldly African, providing a model for his later portrayal as an English gentleman. In the second, related axis, Cameron depicted the Prince and his attendants in allegorical compositions representing the victorious and the vanquished, subjects that acquire special meanings in the context of British
colonialism. In her photographs, Cameron portrayed the Prince as emblematic of his country’s defeat, but she also appropriated his image to embody the Victorian myth of Britain’s altruism and benevolence as a conquering power, embracing the same theme of magnanimity that is found in Thomas Barker’s contemporary print, The Secret of England’s Greatness.
Paper presented as part of the "Photography and Britishness" conference held at the Yale Center for British Art, 4-5 November 2016. This conference was co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London; and The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino.
Пікірлер: 23
These pictures are so sad 😞 poor little prince🙏🏾
I feel so sad for Prince Alemayew! I’m sure this story is way more gruesome than what the British want to tell us.
@ruthsherman2507
Жыл бұрын
Certainly dying in his teenage years indicates something suspicious.
The most shocking act was the kidnapping of Prince Alemayehu who was only 7 years old. Queen Victoria & Speedy kept him away. God knows why. Ethiopians have been asking for his remains to be repatriated many times but UK has refused.
Benevolent!? Wow. Benevolent.🤔 I could not fathom this treatment as benevolent. Benevolent would have been leaving Prince Alamayou among his people. Instead his life was stolen to satisfy the curiousity of those who abducted him 👍💯⭐.
@aklilmesele5083
Жыл бұрын
His saftey would have been compromised had he stayed in Ethiopia. There were arch rivals and opponents against his father, Emperor Tewodros. Btw..i'm an Ethiopian.
ልብ የምንካ ታርክ ነው 😢💔የልኡል አለማየሁ ነገር ያሳዝናል ሀገር ወገን እንደሌለው የንጉሡ ልጅ ሆኖ በሰው ሀገር ወጥቶ ቀር 😢አይ አንቺ Ethiopia 💚💛❤☝
its heart touching history
'Dependent' on his conquerers. Isn't that the definition of being conquered?
@internalhoodafairs707
Ай бұрын
At 7 years old they could of left him and took the farther instead she even gave him the gun and made him choose you or your son so he took his own life so his son could live but the things they did to him in all ways smh and they can’t give him back cause after he died from lung poison pictures surfaced with him having a leash on his neck and walking on hands and knees smh some devils with no soul smh
It’s makes me sad 😔 to see him so sad in all the pic what did z Britain benefit doin this
@ruthsherman2507
Жыл бұрын
They want to live in our skins...it seems...literally. It's an obsession.
Empire amhara ase tedros gonder
Oh oh, Sebastopol was Tewodros,s canon, not one brought by Brits from the Crimean war.
The letter was clear, king Tewodros ask the queen to send professionals not missionaries the Queen refuse , so King Tewodros arrested the missionaries, that was how the conflict happen
@amdetsion3256
Жыл бұрын
Actually, it was more to do with the British slighting Emperor Tewodros and then him realizing the Brits were working with Ottoman Egypt to invade Ethiopia. It was also known to him that the British along the Red Sea were doing nothing as the Turks were selling captured Abyssinian Christians in Bogos (Eritrea).
@kevintroy4329
Жыл бұрын
Missionaries were agents of colonization had no rightvto even be in a country whos king was already Christian. They invaded Eritrea to colonize regardless of him being Christian or not.
@charlesm9190
Жыл бұрын
I know the great descendants of Prince Alemeyahu living in north London at present in 2023. They have a different take on these events! The British killed, looted and exiled other royals
Sad 💔 the Prince little face 🙏🏽 but still exhibited powerful present his little throne Prince self.. agreed with last two audience comment! Speedy was just hired Nanny and to look after the Prince of course the bridge was trying to in a mole the next king and in their ways or however then planning to do but it has nothing to do to make him look any less or exhibit HIM anything other than the ETHIOPIAN throne Prince.. ....presenter tried to painted other agendas Balalala... Ethiopian Emperor was above other Empires at that time so what is your point??