Arthur William Devis (BRITISH 1762/63 - 1822), PORTRAIT OF COLIN SHAKESPEARE

Lot description

ARTHUR WILLIAM DEVIS (BRITISH 1762/63 - 1822)PORTRAIT OF COLIN SHAKESPEAREOil on canvasSigned (lower left)72 x 84cm (28¼ x 33 in.)Provenance:Sale, Christie's London, 8th May 1936 lot 63Arthur Tooth and Sons.Private Collection, UK. Literature:Sydney H Pavière, The Devis Family of Painters, Leigh-on-Sea 1950, p.114, no. 134, plate 46M. Archer, India and British Portraiture 1770-1825, London 1979, p. 504, no. 172, reproduced p. 249Arthur William Devis inherited his talent from his father, the portrait painter Arthur Devis (1712-1787). He led an adventurous life and in 1782 was `appointed Draftsman by a private committee of the East India Company to pursue a voyage around the world' aboard the Antelope. He was wounded by arrows in New Guinea and shipwrecked off the Palau Islands in the Pacific. Devis reached Calcutta in 1785, hoping to make his fortune as a portrait painter. Handsome, charming and generous, he plunged into the extravagant, febrile world of Calcutta society, where East India Company officials lived with all the elegance of Europe and the glamour of the East. By 1787, Devis had spent some time away from Calcutta visiting out-stations and penetrating as far as Patna. This served to expand his knowledge of Indian life and customs which he appears to have had a genuine fondness for, in particular the Pelew Islanders. In November 1793, William Baille, Superintendent of the Free School wrote: 'Devis paints most delightfully, I think, especially small figures in which I like his handling and colouring even better than Zoffany's'. His travels outside of Calcutta allowed Devis to evolve out of his Royal Academy school trained style into something which more of an edge. Most notably he started to use Banyan trees as effective ingredients in his backgrounds. This is arguably best used to effect in the circa 1790 portrait of Colin Shakespeare offered here, which was painted during the six years (1789 - 1793) in which Devis' portraits really come to life. Here he depicted British figures in a variety of different poses in an India which although becoming more and more Anglicised, was also rich with its own indigenous charm, influence and atmosphere.In 1790, Colin Shakespeare was a newly arrived member of the Bengal civil service. Here he is depicted by Devis in a relaxed pose, reclined at the foot of a Banyan tree with his pointer dog lying beside him. Paviere and Archer both suggest circa 1790 as a date for the painting, which would mean it was executed soon after Shakespeare's arrival in India, perhaps on occasion of his new appointment. In his book, Paviere notes that the landscape background is likely to be the Governor-General's Park at Barrackpore, situated north of Calcutta on the Hooghly River. One of Devis's first sitters was the Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings and he went on to paint Marquess Cornwallis Receiving the Hostage Prince of Mysore before Seringapatam: and The Finding of the body of Tippoo Sahib, The Sultan of Mysore. Devis returned to England in 1795, intending to publish his series of twenty-six paintings of Indian Manufacturers. He continued to build up his reputation as a portrait painter, often executing commissions for families with connections to India. In 1805, Devis was present when H.M.S Victory returned from Trafalgar, and on board the ship during the autopsy of Nelson. The sketches he made there were used in his Death of Nelson and went some way to creating the posthumous cult of Nelson which to some extent continues today.