Published by the London Printing and Publishing Company, this etching presents a dramatic moment from the Revolt of 1857. The quotation in the caption, “One of their leaders waving his sword, shouted, ‘Come on my braves’” from Vide Reese’s narrative, echoes the language of sensational accounts which circulated during the war. This image uses the techniques of realism—detailed costumes and facial expressions—to make it look like an authoritative representation of the event. But images of the revolt, which featured widely in British accounts of the war, not only stereotyped Indians as incapable of military prowess but also fabricated incidents to suit the colonial propaganda against the mutineers.

This painting commemorates the moment in 1857 when the siege of the British Residency at Lucknow by a section of mutinying Company soldiers was lifted. It was part of a series of events whose meaning has changed over time (and depending on the audience), from a ‘Mutiny’, ‘Revolt’ and ‘Rebellion’, to becoming an ‘Uprising’ and ‘First War of Independence’. The Swedish artist Egron Lundgren was in India during 1857. He may have been the only European to cover Lucknow ‘live’, through hundreds of quick sketches. Thomas Jones Barker used them to make the painting on which this print is based. Such prints circulated in the hundreds or thousands around the world.

Self-taught artist Chittaprosad is famous for his impactful portrayals of the Bengal Famine of 1943. He was also an avid caricaturist. He often meticulously documented political developments in India that had an impact on the marginalised. This woodcut by Chittaprosad depicts ‘The Santhal Rebellion’, which broke out in 1855. The Santhals got their land rid of landlords, moneylenders and policemen, fighting with self-created weapons like the bow and arrow against the British government for a year until they gave them concessions in terms of administration of the area. The Santals received a selfgoverning district named ‘Santal Pargana’ where they could follow their traditional social structures, and their revenue was collected by Santal majhis (headmen).