Code: 11433
Dimensions:
Warren Hastings (1732-1818)
Governor-General of Bengal
after Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)
Engraved by Thomas Watson (1743-1781)
Mezzotint
Published 1777
Measures:-
46 cm x 33 cm
69.7 cm x 57.5 cm (Framed)
Provenance:-
Rowley Gallery, Kensington Church St, London
A very good impression. Slight ink smudge from the original printing lower left. Mounted to just outside the plate mark.
Lettered with the title "Warren Hastings Esqr / GOVERNOR GENERAL of BENGAL, &c &c" and with the artist's details "Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds."; "London, March 20th. 1777", "Engraved by Thomas Watson""
For similar see BM 1902,1011.6560 & 1950,0520.292
A very sought after image of the man who was the first British Governor-General of Bengal from 1772–1785.
Warren Hastings was born in Churchill in Oxfordshire, the son of a country clergyman. He was briefly educated at Westminster School and then, aged 17, entered the service of the East India Company’s as a clerk in Bengal. He eventually worked up to through the administration to the highest post in the Company's service. A divisive figure, who campaigned against tyranny within the East India Company, he himself was charged with corruption in 1787. His attempted impeachment, which lasted for eight years until his final acquittal and exoneration in 1795, was one of the longest and most infamous trials in legal and political history. The cost of his defence nearly brought complete financial ruin upon him but, after he finally cleared his name, he was able to acquire his family's historic estate at Daylesford in Gloucestershire (now the home of Lord and Lady Bamford).1 He is buried in St Peter's Church, Daylesford.
Reynold's original portrait was painted during Hastings’s return to in England from India, between June 1765 and March 1769. It can now be found in the National Portrait Gallery. See NPG 4445.
Notes:-
1. See Andrew Ginger, 'Daylesford House and Warren Hastings', The Georgian Group Report & Jounal, 1989, pp.80-102
