Skip to main content
Charles, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805), Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India, 1786-1793 British School, late 18th Century image 1
Charles, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805), Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India, 1786-1793 British School, late 18th Century image 2
Charles, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805), Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India, 1786-1793 British School, late 18th Century image 3
Lot 144

Charles, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805), Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India, 1786-1793
British School, late 18th Century

22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £23,040 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Charles, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805), Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India, 1786-1793
British School, late 18th Century

oil on canvas
76 x 63.5 cm.; with frame 90 x 77 cm.

Footnotes

Provenance
Formerly in a private collection, Suffolk, UK.


Cornwallis had returned from his American campaigns in January 1782. Early in 1783 he and Lord Rawdon, a fellow officer from the American war, were sitting to Gainsborough for their portraits, for presentation to each other. Cornwallis's picture was hung in the Royal Academy exhibition that year and was considered a good likeness. It is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG281: illustrated and discussed in, for example, C. Bayly, The Raj: India and the British 1600-1947, London 1990, p. 127, no. 152).

An almost identical portrait to ours was with Miles Barton, London, 76 x 64 cm., dated circa 1790.

Additional information