Cetshwayo, King of the Zulus

Signed and dated: C.Sohn jr / 1882.

Cetshwayo was the nephew of the great King Shaka and succeeded his father Mpande as King of the Zulus in 1873. In the Zulu war the British at first suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Zulus at Isandhlwana, but eventually destroyed the Zulu army at Ulundi. Cetshwayo was captured and taken into custody in 1879. Two years later he was freed and came to England, accompanied by three chiefs, when this portrait was painted. The artist had difficulty finding a set of lion’s teeth for the portrait, but located a collector who had a lion’s skull. Queen Victoria wrote in her Journal that she found Cetshwayo ‘a very fine man, in his native costume, or rather no costume…tall, immensely broad, & stout, with a good humoured countenance, & an intelligent face’.

The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1883.

[Wikipedia]