Foster 525

Warren Hastings (1732-1818), Governor-General of Fort William, 1773-85. Made 1823.

Hastings stands bareheaded, dressed in civilian costume. The head is bald, save for a fringe of hair at the sides and back; the face looks straight to the front. The left arm crosses the breast and touches the upper part of a rolled map of India, which stands on the end of a book labelled ‘Hindu Laws’; this in turn, together with a folded document bearing the seal of the East India Company, is supported by a draped pedestal.

Marble: life size

Inscribed: ‘J Flaxman. R.A. The Right-Honourable Warren Hastings LL.D. 1823’

Commissioned by the East India Company, 12 January 1820

Reproduced: ‘Journal of Indian art and industry’, vol. 5, no 39, Jan 1894, pl.22

After Hastings’ death on 22 August 1818, the Chairman of the Company proposed at a General Court on 22 September 1818 that a statue should be placed in the General Court Room. In spite of some opposition the motion was passed on 12 January 1820. It was formally resolved ‘That as the last testimony of approbation of the long, zealous, and successful services of the late Right Honourable Warren Hastings, in maintaining without diminution the British Possessions in India against the combined efforts of European, Mahomedan, and Mahratta enemies, a statue of that distinguished servant of the East India Company be placed among the statesmen and heroes who have contributed in their several stations to the recovery, preservation, and security of the British power and authority in India.’

Eight months later the Court was informed that Flaxman had been chosen to execute the work for £1,000. This was completed in April 1823. With the move to the India Office in King Charles’ Street, the statue was erected in a decorated niche with arch and pediment.

A small plaster statuette, height 19.5 ins, closely resembling the present bust is in the Soane Museum. It is possibly the maquette for the India Office sculpture. It was purchased by Sir John Soane from Flaxman’s sister Maria Denman in 1835 for 10 guineas along with other studies for statues of Burns, Pitt and the Marquess of Hastings. The latter was the study for the statue in Calcutta.