Select Views in Mysore: The Country of Tippoo Sultan
Robert Home, Select Views in Mysore: The Country of Tippoo Sultan; from drawings taken on the spot by Mr. Home; with historical descriptions, London: Mr Bowyer, 1808
29 copper-engraved plates by Fittler, Byrne and others after Robert Home, with chapters on Bangalore, Savendroog (4 pages each), Outradroog (2 pages); Ramgurry, Chenepatam, Shevagurry, Shevagunga, Peddinaigdurgum, Maugree Pagodas (1 page each); Seringapatam (7 pages) and single page descriptive text for the plate "The Tomb of Hyder Ali Khan".
Hardbound with leather spine and two raised bands
13.2 x 11.5 in (33.5 x 28 cm)
UNIQUE ASSOCIATION COPY. BELONGING TO CAPTAIN CHARLES RAND, SIGNED BY HIM ON THE TITLE PAGE. CAPTAIN CHARLES RAND ACCOMPANIED ROBERT HOME WHEN HE DREW MANY OF THE SKETCHES ON THE SPOT.
Born in 1752 in Kingston upon Hull, England, Robert Home was a painter known for his scenic landscape paintings set in India. He attended the Royal Academy Schools in 1769, where he trained under neoclassical painter Angelica Kauffmann. Upon her recommendation, Home went on to train and live in Rome from 1773-1779. In the following years, he worked as a portrait painter in Dublin before returning to London in 1789.
In 1790, Home's career took an exciting new direction when he left for India. He arrived during the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789-92), most likely on an official assignment to record the scenes of the action. The war, which took place in southern India, was between the Kingdom of Mysore, led by ruler Tipu (also spelled as Tippoo), and the British East India Company. The present lot is dedicated to the commander-in-chief of the British forces in India at the time, Marquess Cornwallis.
Over the course of his stay in India, Home established himself as a highly successful portrait artist and worked mainly in Madras, Calcutta and Lucknow. He was employed as the official court painter of Lucknow, to King Ghazi and his successor, the Crown Prince Nazir-Ud-Din. He was encouraged to lend his artistic abilities to designing crowns and regalia, furniture for the palaces, richly ornamental howdahs, carriages and pleasure boats, in addition to executing paintings. Many of his drawings are part of the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Home passed away in 1836 in British India.
NON-EXPORTABLE