NAM.1989-03-70-1

An officer, 2nd Brigade Bombay Infantry, 1789. Miniature portrait in watercolour on ivory, signed and dated lower right 'J.S./ 1789/ I', by John Smart (1741-1811), Bombay, 1789. Bust-length portrait in uniform. Glazed in a yellow metal frame. The identity of the sitter for this portrait in uniform is unknown. A fine example of the work of the great miniaturist, John Smart, it shows an early example of a rare shoulder title; the silver star probably indicates the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1784, already an artist of some reputation in England, Smart applied for permission to work in India, presumably in order 'to shake the pagoda tree', and he arrived in Madras in September the following year. He was soon much in demand and painted portraits for Muhammed Ali, the Nawab of Arcot, as well as most of the senior Government officials and army officers. In 1789 he travelled first to Bombay, where he painted this miniature, and then Bengal, before returning to Madras. After ten successful years (despite the sum of pagodas still owed to him by the Nawab of Arcot), he returned home. Smart's work is characterised by meticulous painting with a brilliant use of colour, and the depiction of his sitters without flattery but with a lively, humorous quality. While working in India he signed his miniatures with an 'I'.