Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Epigraphy
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Nongqayi, the Nightwatchman
- 1The Frontier Dandies
- 2Johnny Fingo
- 3Langalibalele, the Black Beast
- 4Cetshwayo, the Photogenic King
- 5The Rickshaw Puller and the Kitchen Suit
- 6The Black Watch
- 7A Man Named ‘Cash’
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Cetshwayo, the Photogenic King
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 September 2025
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Epigraphy
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Nongqayi, the Nightwatchman
- 1The Frontier Dandies
- 2Johnny Fingo
- 3Langalibalele, the Black Beast
- 4Cetshwayo, the Photogenic King
- 5The Rickshaw Puller and the Kitchen Suit
- 6The Black Watch
- 7A Man Named ‘Cash’
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
PHOTOGRAPHS OF CETEWAYO. – We have received from Messrs. Marion and Co. three photographs of Cetewayo and his wives taken on board the s.s. ‘Natal’ by Messrs. Crewes and Van Laun, of Capetown. Comparing these undoubtedly authentic portraits of the unfortunate monarch with those which have previously appeared in the illustrated papers, we have a striking instance of the superiority of the camera over the pencil in securing accurate delineations of feature and characteristic expression. We must say that poor Cetewayo has just cause for complaint against the artists who have endeavoured to pourtray [sic] him in our illustrated serials.
The pictures of Cetshwayo taken on the deck of the British steamer the SS Natal are iconic. They have appeared in several accounts of his reign. Specifically, they are used to illustrate the end of the Zulu kingdom and the 1879 exile of Cetshwayo to Cape Town. As a moment of photographic capture, Cetshwayo's image also fits into the continental and regional story of the photographing of captured monarchs and rulers. In her book, Photography and Africa, Erin Haney dedicates several pages to what she terms ‘Majestic Prerogative’. As she perceptively notes, ‘sending African rulers into exile was part of colonial expansion particularly wellsuited to spectacle and these events were often ceremoniously photographed for posterity’.
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- The NightwatchmanRepresenting Black Men in Colonial South Africa, pp. 77 - 98Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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