Architecture as Enemy: Felice Beato’s Photographs of Lucknow

Abstract

In spring 1858, the intrepid Italo-British photographer, Felice Beato (1832–1909), arrived in Lucknow, a city recently occupied by the British following the 1857 Indian Rebellion.1 He climbed to the parapets of the Kaisarbagh, a sprawling palace complex from which the photographer surveyed and captured the once-thriving courtly capital of the north-Indian state of Awadh. The city was hollowed out and decimated by fighting, its palaces, shrines, and villas exposed to Beato’s conquering gaze. Before arriving in Lucknow, Beato had already begun to develop his skill at capturing war-torn locales. Working with the Scottish photographer James Robertson, he photographed the fall of Sebastopol to allied troops during the Crimean War (1853–1856).2 Perhaps drawn to India by the prospect of expanding his reputation as a war photographer, and ever keen to profit from the military contacts he had established in the Crimea, Beato’s hopes of recording the heat of battle during the rebellion were thwarted by his late arrival. By the time the photographer reached Lucknow, the British had recaptured the city and pacified its population. Undeterred by his inability to capture scenes of combat, Beato took aim at Lucknow’s war-ravaged structures, shooting scores of photographs of partially destroyed villas and palaces.