Exposing wounds: Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett’s royal assignment

ABSTRACT This article explores Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett’s little-known photographs of wounded soldiers taken during the Crimean War (1854–1856). These images are an important source in the history of war representation, following Charles Bell’s vivid paintings of gunshot wounds in the wake of the Battle of Waterloo and preceding World War One images of facial mutilation. Commissioned by Queen Victoria during her publicized visits to military hospitals at Chatham and kept for posterity in a royal album entitled ‘Crimean Portraits 1854–6ʹ, Cundall and Howlett’s photographs reveal the monarchy’s close interest in the wounded. I explore royal motives for memorializing rank and file soldiers and their injuries, arguing that the images are shaped by humanitarian and medical interests, as well as royal desire to commemorate survival and bodily resilience. I consider the photographs alongside contemporary reports and prints in newspapers and medical journals depicting the wounded, to give a sense of the cultural significance of the wounded soldier during the Crimean War. By situating Cundall and Howlett’s photographs against the political and emotional conflicts of the war and examining the representation of the individual sufferer, I ask to what extent they participate in, and challenge, wider narratives of healing.