NAM.1951-11-13-1

Hasan, our bheestie (water-carrier) at Simla, 1908. Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower left ‘G E Burrard/ 1908’, by Gertrude Ellen Burrard (later Lady Gertrude) (1860-1928), 1908. Half-length portrait of the water carrier at Simla, with his leather water sack and stick. Gertrude Ellen Burrard accompanied her husband Sidney Burrard, an Indian Army Officer, around the Indian subcontinent during his time as Superintendent on the Trigonometrical Survey of India. As an amateur artist, she recorded the people and places that she encountered and exhibited her paintings for many years in India. This painting was awarded the Figure Prize at the Simla Art Exhibition in 1908 and was bought by Sir James Walker. When Lady Burrard died in 1928, Lady Walker kindly presented the picture to the artist’s family.