The Nawab of Oudh, Ghazi al-Din Haidar (reg. 1814-27), entertaining at a banquet with the British Resident and other British guests and Indian attendants

Lucknow, circa 1840

Footnotes

For a very similar composition, painted in a slightly bolder and heavier style, dated circa 1840, see Francesca Galloway, Indian Miniatures from the James Ivory Collection, London 2010, pp. 156-157, no. 70. Almost exactly the same figures appear, with minor variations in the objects on the table and the chandelier above; there is the same classical building on the far bank of the river, and the flywhisks of the attendants are held at the same angles. The English figures appear different, though, younger perhaps. The painting and four other Lucknow paintings of similar style and date were part of a now-dispersed album (Galloway, pp. 160-163, nos. 70-75).

In discussing the James Ivory painting, Losty (in Galloway, above) identifies the Englishman on the monarch's right as probably Mordaunt Ricketts, the Resident at Lucknow between 1822 and 1830, and the woman beside him as Charlotte, nee Ravenscroft, whom he married in 1824. The officer in the red tunic on the other side must be the commander of the Resident's escort, together with his wife. However, the man in our painting perhaps resembles more closely a British man, with dark hair and similarly long sideburns, portrayed with Nasir ad-Din Haidar (the next Nawab) in a painting in the British Library (Ad. Or. 2599), whom Archer identifies as possibly Lord Bentinck, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief 1828-35. (See M. Archer, Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London 1972, p. 163, no. 127, pl. 56). Given the fact that both our painting and the James Ivory one were painted some time after the events at which the people involved were present, or are imagined to be present, it is perhaps not surprising that there was room for variation - and in addition, it is possible that one European looked much the same to Indian eyes.

The Indian wearing glasses behind the Resident is presumably a secretary to the Nawab. Losty further observes that the portrayal of the Nawab derives ultimately from the portraits made by Robert Home (1752-1834), who in fact designed the opulent crown seen here and worn by this Nawab and his successors.

The composition derives in part - in the grouping of the figures, and the use of the groaning table in front - from an earlier painting depicting the Nawab entertaining Lord and Lady Moira, and a larger gathering of Indian and European officers, dated circa 1820-22, in the British Library (Add. Or. 1815: illustrated in, for example, in S. Markel (ed.), India's Fabled City: the Art of Courtly Lucknow, Los Angeles 2011, p. 184, fig. 30).

Writing of this painting Cary Welch observed: '[...] the artist caught the mood and setting of the party, down to the majestically stern monarch's reaching into the welter of cups and dishes for the initial tidbit, the eating of which, like a pistol shot at a race meet, began the feast. Through a doorway of the Anglo-Indian pleasure dome, we see the Gumti River, a refreshing escape from the oppressiveness of classical columns, swags, and crystal girandoles' (S. C. Welch, Room for Wonder: Indian Painting during the British Period 1760-1880, New York 1978, pp. 98-99, no. 41).