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Description: | By 1783 Zoffany had become unfashionable in England and, owing to the difficulty of obtaining commissions, he left for India to seek out new patrons. There he quickly became popular, being commissioned to execute portraits of such figures as the Governor General and his wife, Mr and Mrs Warren Hastings (1783, Aberdeen City Art Gallery). Over the next six years he travelled between Calcutta and Lucknow, painting the colonial British and Lucknow aristocracy. It is therefore possible that Zoffany painted this portrait while James Graham was working there with the East India Company, though an English location following his return from India is also possible. James Graham (1747-1820) was descended from the Kirklington family and was a partner in the banking house of Graham & Co, Carlisle. In 1791 he built Barrock Lodge (now called Barrock Park) in the Eden Valley, which he sold to the James family in 1796. The sitter appears to be in a summerhouse or folly with palms visible in the distance, possibly depicting an estate in India. Zoffany is recorded as painting twelve male portraits while in India between 1783 and 1789, of which this may be one (six of the others are now in the Calcutta Art Gallery). | Subjects: | portrait (James Graham) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Zoffany, Johann (German painter, 1733-1810, active in England) Æ Attributed to | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8363... | Go to resource |
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