‘Alexander's Column near Cabul’, c.1842 (colour litho)

‘Alexander's Column near Cabul’, 1842 (c). Coloured lithograph after Lieutenant Vincent Eyre, Bengal Artillery, 1842 (c). As the British advanced into Afghanistan they came across many ancient ruins and monuments, evidence of the country’s rich and varied heritage. Individuals like Eyre painted, sketched, classified and recorded these sites, doing much to increase our understanding. Their work was part of the imperial scheme. The development of archaeology, linguistics, anthropology and the birth of the museum were all based on an impulse to collect, classify and control information about diverse cultures. It was no coincidence that many of the pioneers in the ancient history of the subcontinent, its religions and languages were often the very same soldiers and civil servants who conquered, surveyed and administered India and its associated regions. From ‘Portraits of the Kabul Prisoners’, a set of pre-publication coloured lithographs later published by John Murray in 1843. The artist’s original drawings were made during his captivity in Afghanistan after the Retreat from Kabul during the 1st Afghan War (1838-1842).