Page - 64 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

64 | Philippe Bornet www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 55–86 A first series of images appears simply to have been drawn by an artist before being engraved. In these instances, the image was not bound by any technical constraints, which allowed for the reproduction of more dramatic scenes, for they could be created from scratch according to editorial needs. They might be based on drafts prepared in the distant context or entirely manufactured in Europe. In both cases, they “created a space in which the romantic imagination of the artist could intervene in very direct ways”.22 And indeed, as long as only engravings were printed in periodicals, almost full editorial control could be exerted by intervening at any stage in the making of these images, including forging an item in order to fit a particular agenda (see below for an example). The present collection includes works by the British “orientalist” engraver and artist Joseph Austin Benwell (1816–1886) and the French artists Émile-Antoine Bayard (1837–1891) and Horace Castelli (1825–1889), who had both worked for the journal Le Tour du Monde.23 A second set of images comprises engravings produced from photo- graphs. Photography was already being used by missionaries in the second half of the 19th century, and it was widespread throughout India from at least the 1850s.24 Photographs were included in the regular reports circulat- ing between missionaries and their home institutions. The Basel Mission, for instance, sent a circular to its missionaries in India, China, and Africa in 1878 that stressed the importance of reports and photographs communicated to headquarters.25 That message indicates that “visual material” about the distant countries was needed by the home institution and that even at an early date missionaries working in the field could take photographs without being professional photographers.26 22 Pinney 1997, 22. 23 Other artists whose work was reproduced include the British C. W. Cheshire, W. Dickes, W. Harrison, J. Johnston, J. Knight, E. J. Marty, C. E. O. Measom, T. Robinson, X. A. Ruff, R. Sayer, J. Scott, Sheeres, E. Whymper, and the French A. Bertrand, L. Dumont, C. Laplante, Auguste Trichon, as well as the Belgian Adolphe-François Pannemaker. For information on some of these figures, see the corresponding entries in Bénézit/Busse 1999. 24 See Jenkins 1993, 92: “Photographs were already being taken in the context of the London Missionary Society and Jesuit presence in the 1850s.” Photography itself dates from the first decades of the 19th century and in India, photographical studios, clubs, and curricula were established from the middle of the 19th century on; see Karlekar 2013, 29–30, for Tamil Nadu. 25 Josenhans 1878, 4: “We would also like to urgently request drawings or photographs suitable for wood engraving and publication in our sheets. Any expenses for these will be gladly reimbursed.” 26 See Jenkins 1993, 92: “At this stage of the study of missionary photography, […] we should consider it likely that any missionary society was organising itself a supply of photographs