A Note on the Apperance of Rajah James Brooke at the Age of 44.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
A Note on the Apperance of Rajah James Brooke at the Age of 44. |
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Author :
Earl of Cranbrook |
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Abstract:
In 1847-8, James Brooke spent four months in England, arriving on 2 October and departing on 1 February (Runciman, 1960). During this period he found himself a famous man, and was generally feted throughout the country. He attended meetings, gave lectures and, among other honours,was received at court by Queen Victoria who created him K.C.B. It was also at this time that his portraitwas painted by Francis Grant, A.R.A. This portrait, the original of which hangs in the National Gallery, London, has been reproduced many times and is, surely, to any historian of Sarawak the most familiar likeness of James Brooke (see, e.g., Longhurst, 1956: frontispiece; Payne, 1960: pi. 1; Cooper, 1968: pi. 18; Rawlins, 1969: p. 25). It is a frankly romanticised composition, showing the Rajah dressed in casual but unmistakably nautical fashion, athletically posed against a conventionalised tropical riverine landscape. The features are strongly modelled, the hair dark, the figure lithe and reasonably slim. If this picture is a guide, in his general appearance at 44 years of age the Rajah was still youthful, or at least could justifiably claim to be ‘well-preserved’.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Earl of Cranbrook. (1981). A Note on the Apperance of Rajah James Brooke at the Age of 44. The Sarawak Museum Journal, XXIX (50): 143-146 |
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References
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