Robert Home (1752–1834) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

oil portrait painter who travelled to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

in 1791. During his travels he also painted historic scenes and landscapes.

Life and work

RobertHome - The Death of Colonel Moorhouse at the Storming of the Pettah Gate of Bangalore

Born in Hull in the United Kingdom as the son of an eminent army surgeon from

Greenlaw Greenlaw is a town and civil parish situated in the foothills of the Lammermuir Hills on Blackadder Water at the junction of the A697 and the A6105 in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of ...

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

, He trained with Angelica Kauffman, who lodged with his family in London in 1766, and then at the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

in 1769. He went to Rome in 1773 for further training and remained in Italy until 1777. From 1783 to 1789 he worked in Dublin and London before leaving for India in 1790. On 5 February 1791, Home was allowed to follow Lord Cornwallis' army in the

Third Anglo-Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Anglo- ...

as it moved towards

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. Home painted some of his well-known paintings such as ''The Hostage Princes leaving home with the Vakil, Ghulam Ali'' and ''Lord Cornwallis Receiving Tipu Sahib's Sons'' while he was in South India. In November 1792, Home came into contact with artists

Thomas Daniell Thomas Daniell (174919 March 1840) was an English landscape painter who also painted Orientalist themes. He spent seven years in India, accompanied by his nephew William, also an artist, and published several series of aquatints of the countr ...

and

William Daniell William Daniell (1769–1837) was an English Landscape art, landscape and Marine art, marine painter, and printmaker, notable for his work in aquatint. He travelled extensively in India in the company of his uncle Thomas Daniell, with whom he ...

who inspired him to continue painting landscapes. He visited

Mahabalipuram Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...

in January/February 1793 and the two paintings he painted as a result, titled ''Ruins of Mahabalipuram'' are now in the collection of

The Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. In 1795 Home arrived in Calcutta (

) and continued his work there as an established artist. He was for some time Secretary of the Society and the first Library-in-Charge (1804), and donated his small but valuable art collection. In 1814 he moved to

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

and became a

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

of Nawab

Ghazi-ud-Din Haider Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah (c. 1769 – 19 October 1827) was the last nawab wazir of Oudh from 11 July 1814 to 19 October 1818, and first King of Oudh (Oudh State) from 19 October 1818 to 19 October 1827. Life He was the third son of Nawab Saada ...

(1769–1827). In 1827, he travelled to

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

, where he died in 1834. His ''Select Views in Mysore, the Country of Tippoo Sultan'' were published in London and Madras in 1794, and in Calcutta he made 215 watercolours of Indian mammals, birds and reptiles, some of which he also worked up as oils.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Home, Robert 18th-century British painters British male painters 1752 births 1834 deaths Artists from Kingston upon Hull Court painters