Lot Essay
Tresham was a Dublin born portrait painter who exhibited at the Dublin Society of Artists. He moved to London in 1775 and then travelled to the continent under the patronage of Lord Cawdor. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1789 and was elected a member ten years later.
A note on the old mount of this watercolour suggested that the view was on the River Hooghly in Calcutta. The topography is certainly in keeping with the area south of Calcutta, where the East Indiamen dropped anchor. Passengers would embark and disembark at Diamond Harbour, 40 miles downriver and cargo was transferred to the city in small barges.
Tresham did not travel to India, but is thought to have come into contact with Admiral Suffren who fought in the Mysore Wars and brought back to Malta a group of 51 Indian men and women, where they were employed to teach cotton weaving.
Two watercolours of Indian men and women, both exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1789, are thought to depict Indians in Malta (see M. Archer, British Drawings in the India Office Library, London, 1994, vol. III, p. 304, pl. 52). Both drawings are executed in pen and ink and watercolour, within ruled borders and measure approximately 45 x 64 cm.
Indian Textile workers and weavers from the Malabar Coast (India Office Library WD4038), was exhibited in The Raj: India and British, at the National Portrait Gallery, London, 19 October to 17 March 1991, no. 66.
A note on the old mount of this watercolour suggested that the view was on the River Hooghly in Calcutta. The topography is certainly in keeping with the area south of Calcutta, where the East Indiamen dropped anchor. Passengers would embark and disembark at Diamond Harbour, 40 miles downriver and cargo was transferred to the city in small barges.
Tresham did not travel to India, but is thought to have come into contact with Admiral Suffren who fought in the Mysore Wars and brought back to Malta a group of 51 Indian men and women, where they were employed to teach cotton weaving.
Two watercolours of Indian men and women, both exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1789, are thought to depict Indians in Malta (see M. Archer, British Drawings in the India Office Library, London, 1994, vol. III, p. 304, pl. 52). Both drawings are executed in pen and ink and watercolour, within ruled borders and measure approximately 45 x 64 cm.
Indian Textile workers and weavers from the Malabar Coast (India Office Library WD4038), was exhibited in The Raj: India and British, at the National Portrait Gallery, London, 19 October to 17 March 1991, no. 66.