Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/136

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIIL AUG. 10, 1007.

ZOFFANY'S INDIAN PORTRAITS. (10 S. vii. 429 ; viii. 14.)

THE following portraits are now in Cal- cutta :

Lent from Government House to the Victoria Memorial Hall Collection now in course of formation in the Indian Museum, Chowringhee, ' Governor J. Z. Holwell.' Artist possibly Zoffany, but A. W. Devis and Robert Home are each also credited with the work.

In the Judges' Library of the High Court there is a portrait of Sir Elijah Impey by Zoffany. The judge is standing. The in- scription beneath is " Zoffany 1782 " (the date being probably a mistake for 1783). Another portrait of Sir Elijah Impey by Zoffany is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

In the West Gallery of St. John's Church, Calcutta, is a large painting by Zoffany of ' The Last Supper.' It formerly hung near the altar. The artist has introduced por- traits of real persons. A Greek priest, Father Parthenio, sat for our Lord; and there is a story that a local auctioneer named Tulloh sat for St. John, but found himself eventually represented as Judas Iscariot, and went to law over the insult. A police magistrate, William Coates Bla- quiere, is said to have been the actual model for St. John. Another * Last Supper ' by Zoffany is in East Brentford Church, near London, in which the artist himself and his wife figure.

Until comparatively recently a painting generally accepted as a portrait of Madame Grand (Mademoiselle Werlee), afterwards Princesse Talleyrand, in the Baptist Mission College at Serampore, near Calcutta, was ascribed to Zoffany, but authorities now dispute both the artist's name and the subject of the painting. A portrait of the Princesse by Gerard is in the Musee at Versailles.

I have also found references to a portrait of Warren Hastings painted by Zoffany in Calcutta, and also engraved here, but have not met with a copy of the engraving, nor do I know the whereabouts of the original. If my memory serves me, I think I saw a portrait of the great pro-consul by Zoffany in the National Portrait Gallery when in London in 1905; if so, was it painted in Calcutta ?

Of other pictures by Zoffany painted

when he was in India, an engraving of the ' Embassy of Hyderbeck from the Vizier of Oudh to Calcutta by way of Patna to meet Lord Cornwallis ' hangs in the central lobby passage of the Imperial Library, Calcutta. It contains about 100 figures, and among them is a portrait of the artist. The engrav- ing was published 12 July, 1800, by Messrs. Lawrie & Whittle, 53, Fleet Street, London. I do not know where the original is.

The ' Cock-fight at Lucknow ' (painted in 1786) has about twenty- four figures, which include portraits of Capt. Mordaunt (whose cocks were matched against those of the Nawab Vizier of Oudh), General Claude Martin, Mr. Wheler, and (again) the artist.

I have also come across a reference to a portrait by Zoffany of Mahdajee Sindia at Poonah, and another to his " well-known tiger hunt," which apparently also contained portraits.

Zoffany (or Johann Zauffely, to call him by his real name) must have painted many more portraits and pictures during his long stay in India, but I regret my inability to tell of their subjects or present whereabouts.

WlLMOT CORFIELD,

Hon. Treas. Calcutta Historical Society.

[There is no portrait of Warren Hastings by Zoffany in the National Portrait Gallery. There is, however, a portrait that was painted in India by Tilly Kettle, as well as one painted by A. W. Devis, and formerly at Government House, Cal- cutta. The latter is 011 loan from the Secretary of State for India.]

ROBERT GRAVE, PRINTSELLER (10 S. viii. 28). The three men named Robert Grave mentioned by MR. ABRAHAMS are my great-grandfather, grandfather, and uncle. In the earlier branches of the family, as far back as 1616, the name was un- doubtedly spelt Graves ; but in a coat of arms in my possession about that date the name of the Clackheaton branch is given as Grave, and it is from this branch that the three Roberts were descended. I have a power of attorney, dated 1737, signed by Thomas Grave (who was murdered in Leeds on 24 Feb., 1748, by Josiah Fearn).

Robert the eldest was a printseller. He died 9 June, 1802, aged seventy- one. His portrait appears in a group of heads, ' Sketches taken at Print Sales,' published by Silvester Harding in 1798. He married Miss Elizabeth Bull.

Robert Grave the younger was born 9 March, 1769, and died 2 Sept., 1825. He married Miss Elizabeth Shaw. He spent the earlier part of his life in the navy, and I have letters from him dated Plymouth,