The Battle of Isandlwana by Charles Edwin Fripp (1854-1906). 1885, National Army Museum, London, image in the Public Domain. Oil on canvas.
Fripp supposedly visited the battle site four weeks after the event, though there is some doubt as to whether this actually took place. He exhibited his picture six years after the Anglo-Zulu War had finished, and his painting, which was exhibited in a series of shows, was a flop: it was no longer topical, nobody wanted to remember a disastrous defeat, and nobody paid to see it. The work is nevertheless a powerful representation of an heroic stand which emphasizes the fortitude of the Britons faced with an impossible situation. The grim faces are particularly powerfully shown as the British stand in the final formation, shoulder to shoulder. Its imagery defines a particular notion of British identity as the soldiers stand firm despite the impossible odds – a concept further mythologized in the Second World War, especially in the Battle of Britain (1940) as RAF Fighter Command (‘the Few’) defeated a vast Luftwaffe fleet.
Created 27 February 2025