John Mordaunt en Asaf-ud-Daula kijken naar een hanengevecht 1794

Richard Earlom made this print, "John Mordaunt en Asaf-ud-Daula kijken naar een hanengevecht", using a process called mezzotint. This was a popular printmaking technique, one that allowed for a wide range of tones by roughening the plate and then selectively burnishing areas to create lighter values. Earlom never went to India, so this is his rendition of someone else's original drawing. Consider the labor: not just the work Earlom did to make this image, but also the work that went into the depicted scene of leisure and spectacle. Notice the roosters, bred and trained, as well as the servants tending to the British colonials. Mezzotint was a way to mass-produce and circulate images, and, in this case, to disseminate a vision of British power and colonial life. By focusing on the material processes of both the print and the scene it depicts, we can better understand its social and cultural significance.