Introduction: Manchester and Meerut in May 1857

It is an understatement to describe the Indian Mutiny (also known as the Indian Rebellion or the War of Independence) that began in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, on 10 May 1857, as a turning point in British Imperial administration. Thousands of miles away and on a seemingly opposite pole of concern, the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition that Prince Albert had inaugurated just days before on 5 May in Britain's industrial north was a pathbreaking event for art in Britain and the history of art more generally. These two events shared space on the pages of British newspapers, which were filled with reports of the violence in South Asia, as well as laudatory accounts of the grand opening of the Art Treasures Palace and the priceless works inside. Surprisingly, although cotton was a common thread that formed an important trading and manufacturing bond between Manchester and India, and the exhibition included a dedicated space for works of art lent by the Honourable East India Company, contemporary commentators made little connection between the horrors of colonial rule and the cultural philanthropy that was celebrated in Lancashire.

The absence of commentary at that time continues through today. Noticeably missing from the extensive but ever-growing recent scholarship on the Company, the events in India in that year, or British colonialism, is any in-depth discussion of the Art Treasures Exhibition and the Indian objects on display there through October.