Artist and Empire

Book excerpt: Through broad groupings within thematic chapters, leading scholars focus on how particular objects tell the history of life under British rule. Paintings by well-known artists such as John Singer Sargent and Sidney Nolan are illustrated alongside Benin bronze heads and Mughal miniatures in a survey that ranges from 16th century colonialism through to the projection of Britain's imperial might in the late 19th century to its decline in the post-war era.