Johan Zoffany

Colonel Blair with his Family and an Indian Ayah

1786

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Not on display

Artist: Johan Zoffany 1733–1810
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Unconfirmed: 965 × 1346 mm
frame: 1247 × 1635 × 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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