Lot 107: Robert Home (1752-1834)

Seringapatam, Mysore
signed and dated 'R Home 1792' (lower left) and numbered '26' (on the reverse of the mount)
pen and grey ink and grey wash on buff paper, on the artist's original wash-line mount, unframed
15 1/4 x 22 1/2 in. (39.3 x 57.1 cm.)

India Observed, no. 41.

Pheroza Godrej and Pauline Rohatgi, Scenic Splendours, India through the printed image, London, 1989, p. 114 (engraving illustrated).

with Walter T. Spencer, 11 February 1967, where purchased for the present collection. William and Mildred Archer Collection.

William Byrne, Select Views of Mysore, the country of Tippoo Sultan, 1794, pl. 26.
Joseph C. Stadler, A description of Seringapatam, 1796, pl. 3.

This is a rare watercolour by Robert Home, one of the most important British artists working in India during the late eighteenth century. Home was a trained portrait painter who arrived in Madras, without formal permission from the East India Company, in 1791. However, he obtained approval to join Lord Cornwallis's army and quickly established himself as the official artist during the third Mysore war. Subsequently he set up successful portrait practices in Madras, Calcutta and Lucknow where he became painter to the Nawab of Oude Sa'adat Ali Khan and to his successor Ghazi al-Din.

Many of Home's works were engraved. The Select views in Mysore, the country of Tippoo Sultan contained a narrative of the Mysore campaign. Five further views of Seringapatam and one of Haidar Ali's tomb were aquatinted on larger plates by Joseph C. Stadler, and published as A description of Seringapatam.

The defeat of Seringapatam was one of the most important victories for the British in India, and allowed for territorial expansion into Southern India. The province of Mysore attained legendary status, due to the notorious Tipu Sultan. His kingdom posed a significant threat to British military power. Eratic bursts of hostility culminated in Tipu retreating to Seringapatam, an island fort on the river Kaveri. The allied offence was led by Colonel Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington, who was to remain in India for the next five years. Tipu Sultan died in action.

The present watercolour shows Seringapatam from the West; the viewer looks across the river Cauvery.

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