Johan Zoffany

Colonel Blair with his Family and an Indian Ayah

1786

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

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Not on display
Artist
Johan Zoffany 1733–1810
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Unconfirmed: 965 x 1346 mm
frame: 1247 x 1635 x 78 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Bequeathed by Simon Sainsbury 2006, accessioned 2008
Reference
T12610

Display caption

William Blair was a Colonel in the East India Company who commanded the brigade at Cawnpore. Zoffany paints him with his wife Jane and daughters, the elder also called Jane at the piano, and Maria feeding a cat held by an Indian girl.

In the background are three paintings: a large hill scene, and two of Indian customs which fascinated and horrified westerners. One shows wood being piled for suttee, the burning alive of a widow, and the other a religious ritual of appeasement called Charak Puja in which a man is suspended by a wire between the shoulder blades.

Gallery label, October 2013

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