European School. Gouache on paper on canvas. c. 1900-1905. 38 3/4 x 54 1/2 inches, 43 7/8 x 61 1/4 inches framed. The Boxer Rebellion was a brief but bloody conflict that raged in Northern China during the latter half of 1900. At the turn of the century, a group of eight nations (England, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, the United States, Russian and Japan) were all maneuvering to gain political, economic and military influence in China, stational legation of diplomats in Peking (now Beijing). Resistance to the ‘eight nations’ was widespread and one sect, known as the ‘Boxers’ by Westerners, believed themselves impervious to bullets and bombs. In mid-June, 1900 a group of Boxers and their families marched from Beijing. A multinational force rushed to defend the legation, and by the end of July, the Boxers and the Imperial Army had been crushed. These extraordinarily dramatic images were created as European propaganda and demonstrate the continuing insensitivity of Europeans and Americans to the resentment the Chinese people felt towards the presence and detrimental influence of Westerners in their country. The forces of the German and French armies attack the Chinese army beneath the walls of Taku Forts, in a scene very reminiscent of the American forces assaulting the out walls of Peking on the 14th of August, 1900