The Archive of the Lafayette photographic studio in London has some splendid portraits of Ras Makonnen (1852-1906). and the delegation from Ethiopia who attended the coronation of Edward VII in summer 1902. What's more the images are fully annotated, not just with details of the individuals seen but notes on their honours, garments and accessories, with extensive bibliographic references. Some welcome research there, apparently by the V&A which now manages the Lafayette Archive.
Together with the Spy portrait of Ras Makonnen in Vanity Fair, (above, which now looks as if it may have been 'assisted' by the Lafayette images) the photos testify to the newsworthiness of the delegation in 1902. I don't know why the Ethiopians sat to Lafayette Ltd rather than to Benjamin Stone, who photographed many coronation-visiting dignitaries and entourages at the Palace of Westminster, but possibly Lafayette saw Makonnen and his colleagues as greater celebrities. The group is posed on a carpet and in front of a scenic backdrop more usually seen in publicity images of showbiz stars.
I wish I could have included these pictures in Black Victorians, but as far as I know they exist only as photographic negatives, not prints. Maybe some other archive has contemporary prints? The images are of stunning quality as well as historical interest and deserve to be well known.
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