In the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London

In 1762, a delegation of Cherokee leaders arrived in London for negotiations with King George III following the Anglo-Cherokee War (1759–1761), itself part of the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763). The British public reacted to the men’s presence in London with fervent zeal; throngs of Londoners flocked...

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Autor principal:	Ianna Recco
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Yale University 2021
Materias:	Fine Arts N Arts in general NX1-820
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5cdf0d5b915b4edd9970234fe8b8654d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5cdf0d5b915b4edd9970234fe8b8654d2021-12-01T10:57:37ZIn the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-21/irecco2058-5462https://doaj.org/article/5cdf0d5b915b4edd9970234fe8b8654d2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-21/wax-representations-of-the-1762-cherokee-delegation-in-londonhttps://doaj.org/toc/2058-5462In 1762, a delegation of Cherokee leaders arrived in London for negotiations with King George III following the Anglo-Cherokee War (1759–1761), itself part of the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763). The British public reacted to the men’s presence in London with fervent zeal; throngs of Londoners flocked to the men’s private rooms and any public house, garden, or theatre they attended to see them in person before their very eyes. This article asks why the delegation became such a spectacle by studying three wax statues that were made in the image of the men and were exhibited at Mrs. Salmon’s Royal Wax-Work in London from 1762 to approximately 1793, after which they were lost to history. In questioning how the life-likeness of the wax statues was achieved through materiality and visual elements, and analysing contemporary accounts of the London public’s reception of the men, it emerges that the statues worked to retain their subjects as objects of spectacle long after they returned to North America. Due to the low aesthetic status and fragility of wax statuary, the medium has received little art-historical attention despite the significance of the art form in eighteenth-century London. This article seeks to address this oversight and bring new insight to the imperial visual culture of eighteenth-century Britain.Ianna ReccoYale UniversityarticleFine ArtsNArts in generalNX1-820ENBritish Art Studies, Iss 21 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Fine Arts N Arts in general NX1-820
spellingShingle	Fine Arts N Arts in general NX1-820 Ianna Recco In the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London
description	In 1762, a delegation of Cherokee leaders arrived in London for negotiations with King George III following the Anglo-Cherokee War (1759–1761), itself part of the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763). The British public reacted to the men’s presence in London with fervent zeal; throngs of Londoners flocked to the men’s private rooms and any public house, garden, or theatre they attended to see them in person before their very eyes. This article asks why the delegation became such a spectacle by studying three wax statues that were made in the image of the men and were exhibited at Mrs. Salmon’s Royal Wax-Work in London from 1762 to approximately 1793, after which they were lost to history. In questioning how the life-likeness of the wax statues was achieved through materiality and visual elements, and analysing contemporary accounts of the London public’s reception of the men, it emerges that the statues worked to retain their subjects as objects of spectacle long after they returned to North America. Due to the low aesthetic status and fragility of wax statuary, the medium has received little art-historical attention despite the significance of the art form in eighteenth-century London. This article seeks to address this oversight and bring new insight to the imperial visual culture of eighteenth-century Britain.
format	article
author	Ianna Recco
author_facet	Ianna Recco
author_sort	Ianna Recco
title	In the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London
title_short	In the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London
title_full	In the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London
title_fullStr	In the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London
title_full_unstemmed	In the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London
title_sort	in the flesh at the heart of empire: life-likeness in wax representations of the 1762 cherokee delegation in london
publisher	Yale University
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/5cdf0d5b915b4edd9970234fe8b8654d
work_keys_str_mv	AT iannarecco inthefleshattheheartofempirelifelikenessinwaxrepresentationsofthe1762cherokeedelegationinlondon
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In the Flesh at the Heart of Empire: Life-Likeness in Wax Representations of the 1762 Cherokee Delegation in London

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