Inside the Secunderabagh, Lucknow
name: label: Photographer
content: Beato, Felice, b. ca. 1825
place: label: Place
content: Lucknow (India)
label: Place
content: Sikandar Garden (Lucknow, India)
label: Place
content: India -- History -- Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858
creator: label: Photographer
content: Beato, Felice, b. ca. 1825
setName: label: See more items in
content: Still Prints of Asia
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Lucknow was the capital of the former state of Oudh (Awadh), Uttar Pradesh, India. The city was an instrumental part of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The British first annexed the region in 1856 and were repeatedly attacked by Indian rebels in 1857. The city was abandoned by the British in the winter of 1857-58 and was reattained in March 1858. Over the course of the Rebellion, the cities of Delhi and Lucknow were attacked, with heavy casualties on both sides. 

The Sikandar Garden is part of complex located on the outskirts of Lucknow. During the siege of the city, the Sikandar (or Secundra) Garden was used as a refuge by hundreds of Indian soldiers (sepoys) who were under attack by British troops. On November 16, 1857, the villa was overrun and approximately 2000 sepoys were killed. After the fighting, the British dead were buried in a deep trench, but the Indian dead were left to rot. In early 1858, Beato took this well-known photograph, possibly the first photographic depiction of human corpses, although there is some controversy over whether he had some of the corpses disinterred for dramatic effect.

Although he was born in Greece, Felice Beato worked as a press photographer in England and achieved recognition for his coverage of British political conflicts, photographing the Crimean War of 1855 and, together with his brother-in-law, James Robertson, the 1858 Indian Mutiny in Delhi and Lucknow. The images Beato took during this time are thought to be the first to depict actual human corpses on the battlefield. After moving to Yokohama in 1863, Beato opened the area's first photography studio and documented the people and culture of Japan for the next twenty years, taking photographs and selling them to tourists. During his travels, Beato was able to gain access to Japanese ports that were open only to diplomats by acting as an official photographer for the British navy.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Albumen print (image 26 x 30 cm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1858
container: label: Container
content: Box 1, Folder 6, Item 3
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: FSA.A1999.01, Item FSA.A1999.01_27
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Albumen prints
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Albumen prints -- 19th century
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: One albumen print by Felix Beato, mounted on card, with "Lucknow. Inside the Secunderabagh Shewing [sic] where 2600 Sepoys were Killed" inscribed in black ink below the print. View taken circa 1858 of the interior of the Sikandar Garden, with skeletal remains strewn across the grounds.