Before the Camera: How Emily Eden's Sketches Preserved India's Human Landscape
Long before photography became the dominant way of documenting people and places across the British Empire, an English aristocrat quietly created one of the most remarkable visual records of nineteenth-century India. Between 1836 and 1842, Emily Eden travelled across northern India alongside her brother, George Eden, the first Earl of Auckland, who served as Governor-General of India. Armed not with a camera but with sketchbooks and watercolours, she captured an extraordinary cross-section of Indian society during a period of profound political and cultural change.
Today, nearly two centuries later, those works have returned to public attention through "Princes & People", an exhibition at DAG in New Delhi, curated by art historian Mary Ann Prior. Bringing together the complete published series of hand-coloured lithographs derived from Eden's original sketches, the exhibition offers modern audiences a rare opportunity to examine colonial India through the eyes of an observant artist rather than a photographer.
More than an artistic rediscovery, the exhibition raises important questions about history, representation and the power of visual storytelling before the invention of modern photography transformed documentary practice.
A Rare Visual Record Before Photography
Photography began emerging globally during the late 1830s, but it was still in its infancy when Emily Eden travelled across India. Practical photographic documentation of the Indian subcontinent would only become widespread years later.
As a result, artists remained among the principal visual chroniclers of people, landscapes and political events. Many British artists working in colonial India concentrated on architecture, military campaigns or portraits commissioned by elite patrons. Emily Eden's work stood apart because of its unusually broad human focus.
Her sketchbooks reveal not only Indian princes and members of royal courts but also individuals rarely given prominence in official colonial records. She drew attendants, household servants, travelling merchants, Sikh nobles, Afghan leaders, Akali warriors, religious ascetics known as fakirs, hill communities and ordinary travellers encountered throughout the governor-general's extensive tours.
Even animals accompanying imperial processions appear throughout her work, reflecting an interest in documenting the full texture of everyday life rather than solely ceremonial grandeur.
The Woman Behind the Sketches
Emily Eden came from one of Britain's most influential political families. Although she never held public office herself, her position within Britain's governing elite gave her unusual access to senior colonial administrators and Indian rulers alike.
Her brother, George Eden, served as Governor-General of India from 1836 until 1842, a period marked by expanding British influence and growing geopolitical tensions across the region. His administration is particularly remembered for its involvement in the First Anglo-Afghan War, one of Britain's most consequential military campaigns in nineteenth-century Asia.
Throughout these years, Emily accompanied official tours that travelled thousands of kilometres across northern India.
Unlike many travellers who focused primarily on landscapes or monuments, she devoted considerable attention to the individuals she encountered. Her observations extended beyond formal diplomatic meetings into the daily life surrounding imperial administration.
Her artistic skill was matched by literary talent. She later published letters describing her experiences, offering valuable written accounts that complement her visual work.
Portraits of the Princes and People of India
In 1844, more than two dozen of Emily Eden's drawings were published under the title "Portraits of the Princes and People of India."
The collection featured carefully produced hand-coloured lithographs based on her original sketches. At a time when illustrated books represented one of the few ways European audiences could visualise distant societies, the publication introduced readers to an unusually diverse collection of Indian subjects.
Rather than presenting India as a single cultural entity, the illustrations reflected the subcontinent's extraordinary ethnic, religious and regional diversity.
The collection included:
- Indian princes and royal families
- Sikh military leaders
- Afghan nobles
- Akali warriors
- Religious ascetics
- Court officials
- Household attendants
- Travellers
- Hill communities
- Animals associated with official journeys
This breadth distinguishes Eden's work from many contemporary colonial publications that tended to emphasise imperial authority over everyday human experience.
Art, Empire and Historical Context
Although modern audiences often admire Emily Eden's artistic sensitivity, historians also place her work within the broader framework of British colonial rule.
She travelled as part of the highest levels of imperial administration. Her access to India's rulers and communities depended upon Britain's expanding political influence across the subcontinent.
Consequently, her sketches cannot be separated entirely from the colonial structures that made such journeys possible.
Art historians argue that colonial-era artwork often reflected both genuine curiosity and the unequal power relationships between European observers and the societies they documented.
Emily Eden's illustrations therefore occupy an important but complex position in historical scholarship.
On one hand, they preserve valuable visual evidence of nineteenth-century clothing, weapons, social customs and individual appearances that might otherwise have been lost.
On the other, they remind viewers that documentation itself was shaped by imperial encounters and colonial perspectives.
Recognising both dimensions allows modern audiences to appreciate the historical significance of the works while critically examining the circumstances in which they were created.
Why the Exhibition Matters Today
The "Princes & People" exhibition at DAG in Delhi represents more than the display of historical artwork.
Curated by Mary Ann Prior, it reunites the complete published series of Eden's lithographs, enabling viewers to study the collection as a coherent visual archive rather than isolated artworks.
For historians, anthropologists and students of colonial India, such collections offer valuable primary sources.
Clothing styles, ceremonial objects, military uniforms, hairstyles and social interactions captured in Eden's illustrations provide evidence that supplements written historical records.
For museum visitors, the exhibition also highlights how visual documentation evolved before photography fundamentally changed historical recording.
Today, photographs dominate how societies remember people and events. Eden's drawings remind audiences that careful observation and artistic craftsmanship once served as equally important tools for preserving history.
Photography Changes Everything
Within only a few decades of Emily Eden's travels, photography began transforming visual documentation across the British Empire.
Portable cameras and improved photographic techniques gradually replaced many functions previously performed by travelling artists.
Colonial administrations increasingly relied on photographs for surveying territories, recording archaeological discoveries and documenting local populations.
This technological shift dramatically altered both journalism and historical preservation.
Where artists inevitably interpreted their subjects through personal style and artistic choices, photography was often viewed rightly or wrongly as offering greater objectivity.
Modern historians recognise that photographs also reflect choices about framing, composition and perspective. Nevertheless, photography fundamentally reshaped how governments, scholars and the public understood distant societies.
Emily Eden's work therefore occupies a unique transitional moment in visual history, capturing India immediately before photography became widespread.
Reassessing Colonial-Era Art
Recent years have witnessed renewed scholarly interest in colonial-era collections held in museums and archives across Britain and South Asia.
Researchers increasingly seek to understand not only what these collections depict but also how and why they were created.
Rather than viewing works like Eden's simply as colonial artefacts, historians analyse them as complex historical documents that reveal interactions between empire, culture and artistic practice.
Many scholars argue that these images preserve details unavailable elsewhere while simultaneously reflecting the assumptions of their creators.
This balanced approach encourages audiences to appreciate artistic achievement without overlooking historical context.
Global Significance
Emily Eden's sketches continue to attract international attention because they intersect several important historical fields.
For art historians, they represent outstanding examples of nineteenth-century travel illustration.
For South Asian historians, they provide visual documentation of communities during a transformative period in India's history.
For museum professionals, the collection demonstrates the enduring importance of preserving and interpreting historical archives.
More broadly, the renewed interest reflects growing global efforts to revisit colonial collections through contemporary perspectives that acknowledge both artistic value and historical complexity.
Conclusion
Nearly two centuries after Emily Eden travelled through northern India with sketchbook in hand, her work remains remarkably relevant.
Created before photography became the dominant documentary medium, her illustrations preserve faces, clothing, cultures and encounters that might otherwise have faded from historical memory.
At the same time, they invite critical reflection on the relationship between art, empire and historical representation.
The "Princes & People" exhibition offers more than a celebration of artistic talent. It encourages audiences to examine how visual records shape our understanding of the past and reminds us that every image whether drawn by hand or captured through a camera lens reflects both the world it depicts and the perspective of the person who created it.
As museums and historians continue reassessing colonial archives, Emily Eden's remarkable sketches stand as enduring evidence that art can preserve history while also prompting important conversations about how history itself is recorded.
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