Egypt and John Bull

An early Gibson plate from Life's first decade, well before his 'Gibson Girl' celebrity. A female personification of Egypt—bare-shouldered, garlanded, wearing a beaded collar and arm-cuffs—sits on the edge of a couch and faces her companion. Opposite her, John Bull, stout and scowling, arms folded across his chest, top hat firmly on, boots planted, refuses to meet her gaze. The political argument is Britain's awkward occupation of Egypt (1882 onward): London found itself entangled in a country it neither formally annexed nor willingly abandoned. Bull's sullen posture reflects the tension of the relationship.