Mort du Prince Imperial ou Zoulouland by Paul Joseph Jamin (1853-1903). 1882. Oil on canvas. In the collection of the Château de Compèigne, France. Image in the Public Domain. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Prince Louis-Napoléon was the son of Napoleon III. When his father was deposed in 1870 he moved to England and became an officer in the British Army. He wanted to serve in the Anglo-Zulu War, despite family resistance, and was killed in a Zulu ambush near Mount Itelezi on the morning of 1st June, 1879. No guard had been posted; once again, the British were guilty of complacency. Jamin shows the Prince’s final moments, an encounter based on survivors’ accounts. The composition is a dramatic tableau, with the Prince’s white face forming a sharp pictorial contrast with the blackness of his assailants’ skin. The Zulus are depicted as poised and athletic, with no suggestion of caricature or racist contempt. The landscape in the background adds a romantic note to the tragic narrative and is integral to the artist’s visual oxymoron of ugliness and natural beauty. The Prince’s death caused a scandal across Europe – and, typically, was given far more attention in the press than the 1,500 soldiers who had perished at Isandlwana.

Created 27 February 2025