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Lot Essay
This magnificent and meticulously observed painting of John Wombwell was described by Jeremiah Losty as “Perhaps the most impressive portrait of the Avadh school, which carries into perfect practice the newly discovered necessity of making the sitter appear to exist in a totally naturalistic space” (Losty 2002, p.53). Like lots 51 and 52, it perfectly embodies the fascinating period in late 18th century Awadh when Mughal art, culture and courtly society interacted dynamically with the interests, artistic tastes and patronage of European residents to produce a distinctive and captivating aesthetic vision.
Losty eloquently described this important painting in an essay in 2002: “Seated on a ‘Burgomaster’ chair and smoking a huqqa, [Wombwell] gazes pensively out of an open door, while behind him an attendant waves a morchhal. The painting is remarkable not only for the physical presence of the two figures but also for the minutely and beautifully observed space in which they inhabit. The room has plastered walls on which hang a greenish textile, with dramatic red and white chevron borders, and four pictures, with a red millefleur carpet underfoot. … The green hanging defines the contours of the sitter while its perfectly suggested distance behind him defines his physical presence. The light from the right through the open door falls brilliantly on Wombwell’s face, and casts shadows behind him, while the back wall with its hanging and pictures is seen as moving from the shade to the light in reverse direction. Although at first sight Wombwell’s is a pure profile portrait, this is not in fact so. His chair is slightly at an angle to the picture plane, so that his body can be painted in the traditional Mughal viewpoint, even though his far shoulder is scarcely visible and hence more realistically observed than tradition would dictate. His right leg crossed over his left brilliantly parallels the profiled face.” (Losty 2002, pp.52-4).
To this informative description might be added a close examination of the brilliantly observed details. These include the delicate gold stripes of embroidery on Wombwell’s robe, the thin red zigzag bands on his trousers, the gold embroidery on the shoes, and the embroidered gold silk on the huqqa pipe, the gold designs on the European-style chair, the gold and enamel decoration and gold chains on the huqqa bottle, stem and cup, the jade-hilted dagger with gold-embroidered tassles in the attendant’s waistband and the beautifully decorated peacock feather morchal, and even such details as the hooks and loops from which the large textile hangs. The carpet appears to be a Deccani lattice carpet of the period, a type exported across India and abroad. Finally, the monochrome landscape paintings on the walls are clearly European in style. Wombwell’s pale face is skilfully modelled, giving a remarkable sense of plasticity, and the strong colours are brilliantly balanced.
The same type of distinctive bold textile with chevron borders appears in the background of lot 52 in this sale (Colonel Polier watching a nautch) as well as in the well-known oil painting by John Zoffany of Colonel Polier with his friends Claude Martin and John Wombwell (Victoria Memorial, Kolkata, see, e.g. Dalrymple 2020, p.29, fig.11). Mary Webster remarked that this type of cloth was peculiar to Lucknow (Webster 2011, p.520).
The artist responsible for this arresting portrait has not been identified, but Wombwell was one of a number of European residents in Lucknow who were interested in art and had themselves painted by Indian artists and visiting European painters. Another striking portrait of Wombwell in Indian dress, this time seated on a terrace by a river, is in the Fritz Lugt Collection, Institut Neerlandais, Paris, 1970-T.36 (see Markel 2010 p.230, fig.35; Paris 1986, no.51, pl.VI), and he appears in two well-known oil paintings by John Zoffany: Colonel Mordaunt’s cock-fight of 1784-88 (Tate Gallery, London, T06856, see Webster 2011, pp.505-7) and Colonel Polier with his friends Claude Martin and John Wombwell (Victoria Memorial, Kolkata, see Webster 2011, p.520). Cary Welch suggested that the present work and the portrait of Wombwell on a terrace in the Fritz Lugt Collection were painted by the same artist, and associated them with the style of Mihr Chand, an artist described by Malini Roy as “exceptionally skilled in portraiture” (Losty and Roy 2012, p. 168). Mihr Chand was the chief painter of Col. Antoine Polier for over a decade and probably worked for other European patrons, especially after 1785, when Polier began to wind up his affairs in preparation for his return to Europe (Roy 2009, p.110). Certainly the present portrait has the startling clarity of vision and execution associated with Mihr Chand, as well as the masterful composition and use of colour, and the subtle and convincing depth and plasticity. John Wombwell was a friend of Polier’s and would have seen some of the paintings that Mihr Chand had produced for Polier. Indeed, in Zoffany’s oil painting of Colonel Polier with his friends Claude Martin and John Wombwell, the activity is centred around inspecting and discussing paintings: not only is Wombwell inspecting a watercolour, but three of Polier’s albums of Indian miniatures lie open on the table. A drawing by Ozias Humphry of 1786, another English artist in Lucknow, depicts a View from John Wombwell’s house across the River Gumti and another by the same artist depicts Wombwell’s footman (Archer 1979, pp.197-8, figs.121-2).
John Wombwell was born in 1748 and came from a Yorkshire family. His uncle Sir George Wombwell (1734-1780) had been chairman of the East India Company and was MP for Huntingdon between 1774 and 1780. John followed his uncle into the East India Company and arrived in India in 1776. He was appointed by Warren Hastings as Paymaster and Auditor-General of the nawab’s army and financial controller of the Lucknow Residency, arriving in Lucknow in 1785 (Webster 2011, pp.522-3; Losty 2019, p.62). He was friends with many of the other prominent Europeans in Awadh at the time, including Polier, Claude Martin, and Col. Mordaunt, as well as the artists John Zoffany and Ozias Humphry.
Dr W. B. Manley (1885-1972), who owned this work in the mid-20th century, was a major collector of Indian miniatures. His interest in Indian paintings began when he served in India between 1905 and 1924. On his return to England he became a barrister and later a doctor. He gathered a very significant collection, lending pieces to the 1947 exhibition of Indian art at the Royal Academy. The well-known Manley Ragamala is in the British Museum (1973,0917,0.1-56). Much of his collection was dispersed at auction in 1971, the sale comprising nearly 500 individual miniatures in 300 lots (Sotheby’s, London, 14 July 1971).
Losty eloquently described this important painting in an essay in 2002: “Seated on a ‘Burgomaster’ chair and smoking a huqqa, [Wombwell] gazes pensively out of an open door, while behind him an attendant waves a morchhal. The painting is remarkable not only for the physical presence of the two figures but also for the minutely and beautifully observed space in which they inhabit. The room has plastered walls on which hang a greenish textile, with dramatic red and white chevron borders, and four pictures, with a red millefleur carpet underfoot. … The green hanging defines the contours of the sitter while its perfectly suggested distance behind him defines his physical presence. The light from the right through the open door falls brilliantly on Wombwell’s face, and casts shadows behind him, while the back wall with its hanging and pictures is seen as moving from the shade to the light in reverse direction. Although at first sight Wombwell’s is a pure profile portrait, this is not in fact so. His chair is slightly at an angle to the picture plane, so that his body can be painted in the traditional Mughal viewpoint, even though his far shoulder is scarcely visible and hence more realistically observed than tradition would dictate. His right leg crossed over his left brilliantly parallels the profiled face.” (Losty 2002, pp.52-4).
To this informative description might be added a close examination of the brilliantly observed details. These include the delicate gold stripes of embroidery on Wombwell’s robe, the thin red zigzag bands on his trousers, the gold embroidery on the shoes, and the embroidered gold silk on the huqqa pipe, the gold designs on the European-style chair, the gold and enamel decoration and gold chains on the huqqa bottle, stem and cup, the jade-hilted dagger with gold-embroidered tassles in the attendant’s waistband and the beautifully decorated peacock feather morchal, and even such details as the hooks and loops from which the large textile hangs. The carpet appears to be a Deccani lattice carpet of the period, a type exported across India and abroad. Finally, the monochrome landscape paintings on the walls are clearly European in style. Wombwell’s pale face is skilfully modelled, giving a remarkable sense of plasticity, and the strong colours are brilliantly balanced.
The same type of distinctive bold textile with chevron borders appears in the background of lot 52 in this sale (Colonel Polier watching a nautch) as well as in the well-known oil painting by John Zoffany of Colonel Polier with his friends Claude Martin and John Wombwell (Victoria Memorial, Kolkata, see, e.g. Dalrymple 2020, p.29, fig.11). Mary Webster remarked that this type of cloth was peculiar to Lucknow (Webster 2011, p.520).
The artist responsible for this arresting portrait has not been identified, but Wombwell was one of a number of European residents in Lucknow who were interested in art and had themselves painted by Indian artists and visiting European painters. Another striking portrait of Wombwell in Indian dress, this time seated on a terrace by a river, is in the Fritz Lugt Collection, Institut Neerlandais, Paris, 1970-T.36 (see Markel 2010 p.230, fig.35; Paris 1986, no.51, pl.VI), and he appears in two well-known oil paintings by John Zoffany: Colonel Mordaunt’s cock-fight of 1784-88 (Tate Gallery, London, T06856, see Webster 2011, pp.505-7) and Colonel Polier with his friends Claude Martin and John Wombwell (Victoria Memorial, Kolkata, see Webster 2011, p.520). Cary Welch suggested that the present work and the portrait of Wombwell on a terrace in the Fritz Lugt Collection were painted by the same artist, and associated them with the style of Mihr Chand, an artist described by Malini Roy as “exceptionally skilled in portraiture” (Losty and Roy 2012, p. 168). Mihr Chand was the chief painter of Col. Antoine Polier for over a decade and probably worked for other European patrons, especially after 1785, when Polier began to wind up his affairs in preparation for his return to Europe (Roy 2009, p.110). Certainly the present portrait has the startling clarity of vision and execution associated with Mihr Chand, as well as the masterful composition and use of colour, and the subtle and convincing depth and plasticity. John Wombwell was a friend of Polier’s and would have seen some of the paintings that Mihr Chand had produced for Polier. Indeed, in Zoffany’s oil painting of Colonel Polier with his friends Claude Martin and John Wombwell, the activity is centred around inspecting and discussing paintings: not only is Wombwell inspecting a watercolour, but three of Polier’s albums of Indian miniatures lie open on the table. A drawing by Ozias Humphry of 1786, another English artist in Lucknow, depicts a View from John Wombwell’s house across the River Gumti and another by the same artist depicts Wombwell’s footman (Archer 1979, pp.197-8, figs.121-2).
John Wombwell was born in 1748 and came from a Yorkshire family. His uncle Sir George Wombwell (1734-1780) had been chairman of the East India Company and was MP for Huntingdon between 1774 and 1780. John followed his uncle into the East India Company and arrived in India in 1776. He was appointed by Warren Hastings as Paymaster and Auditor-General of the nawab’s army and financial controller of the Lucknow Residency, arriving in Lucknow in 1785 (Webster 2011, pp.522-3; Losty 2019, p.62). He was friends with many of the other prominent Europeans in Awadh at the time, including Polier, Claude Martin, and Col. Mordaunt, as well as the artists John Zoffany and Ozias Humphry.
Dr W. B. Manley (1885-1972), who owned this work in the mid-20th century, was a major collector of Indian miniatures. His interest in Indian paintings began when he served in India between 1905 and 1924. On his return to England he became a barrister and later a doctor. He gathered a very significant collection, lending pieces to the 1947 exhibition of Indian art at the Royal Academy. The well-known Manley Ragamala is in the British Museum (1973,0917,0.1-56). Much of his collection was dispersed at auction in 1971, the sale comprising nearly 500 individual miniatures in 300 lots (Sotheby’s, London, 14 July 1971).