In this article for Scroll, art historian Jennifer Howes shows “how the East India Company tried to cultivate a strong, positive reputation in London by commissioning artworks” through two portraits of the colonist Robert Clive that the company commissioned, “showing him as a hero.” One of these was a neo-classical statue that depicted Clive “in Roman military costume” and the other was a painting that depicted him as a philanthropist in an effort “to heal his toxifying reputation.” The latter was commissioned after the reputation built by the former had collapsed:
“In the late 1760s he returned to Britain, bringing with him a staggering personal fortune that he had amassed in Bengal. Regarded as one of the richest men in Europe, he conspicuously bought properties in England and Wales, and spared no expense on rebuilding and furnishing these new residences. Clive’s spending spree coincided with reports of the Bengal Famine, a catastrophe that killed about 10 million people. The source of Clive’s fortune came under scrutiny and his character was aggressively criticised by the British public.”
Of the failure of the East India Company’s attempts at spreading propaganda, the author says: “such manoeuvring, particularly in Georgian London’s critical atmosphere, could also backfire.”
Read the full article here.
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