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拍品专文
George Romney recorded a visit with John Stables in his appointment book on 19 February 1777, likely to arrange the commission of this portrait, along with that of Stables’s wife and eldest daughters (see lot 64). This portrait was completed over the course of seven sittings between 27 February and 31 December 1777, an unusually extended timeline for Romney. The delay was likely due to Stables’ departure from England shortly after the initial sitting; he did not return until 17 September. Here Stables is presented three-quarter-length, in his East India Company uniform and holding an Indian talwar sword under his arm. The pair of portraits must have been left behind in England when the Stables family returned to India soon after their completion, as evidenced by the 1781 engraving of the portrait of Mrs. Stables and her daughters by John Smith in 1781.
John Stables was a Director of the East India Company and became a member of the Supreme Council of Bengal, also known as the Council of Four, in Calcutta between 1782 and 1787. The council exercised governmental and political control of the British colonies in India between 1774-1833. His rapid rise through the ranks of the army seems to have been due to his commendable military record, though for some, like Edmund Burke, his promotion from ‘an inferior military to the highest civil capacity’ was grounds for suspicion (Kidson, op. cit., p. 544).
John Stables was a Director of the East India Company and became a member of the Supreme Council of Bengal, also known as the Council of Four, in Calcutta between 1782 and 1787. The council exercised governmental and political control of the British colonies in India between 1774-1833. His rapid rise through the ranks of the army seems to have been due to his commendable military record, though for some, like Edmund Burke, his promotion from ‘an inferior military to the highest civil capacity’ was grounds for suspicion (Kidson, op. cit., p. 544).