Lot 12: Arthur William Devis (1762-1822)

A gentleman wild boar-hunting in an Indian landscape oil on canvas 273/4 x 35 in. (70.5 x 89 cm.) PROVENANCE Arthur Spencer, The Siddons Galleries; Christie's, London, 5 October 1956, lot 144 (30 gns.) as by Zoffany, to Sir Arthur Penn and then by descent to the present owner. NOTES The sport of wild boar-hunting, or pigsticking as it was later called was adopted enthusiastically by the British. The Moghuls used to hunt carnivorous game with a spear as a test of princely manhood. Boar-hunting was a perilous sport, which involved hurling spears from horse-back at passing wild boars. The picture is an early record of an English gentleman participating in the sport. Devis was in India between 1784 and 1795. During his stay in Calcutta and its environs, he built up an enviable reputation as a portrait painter. He executed individual portraits of Company servants in a variety of different poses, often relaxing in outdoor settings, much as gentleman of leisure would have liked to be painted in England. This picture reflects the ease in which the sitter felt at home in this foreign land. A picture by the artist showing a similar subject in the Harris Art Gallery in Preston depicts John Addison, the Resident Judge of Murshidabad out tiger-shooting. The style of the landscape compares to his famous Arts and Manufactures of Bengal series painted between 1785-1790.