Foster 866

Boats on the River Ganges with the Rajmahal Hills beyond, c.1825.

Oil on canvas; 20.5 by 27 cms.

This is one of a group of eight paintings in oils, of slightly varying sizes, but arranged into two groups of four oils each in matching frames, from the collections of the Macnab of Macnab, all sold in 1992. James Munro Macnabb’s inventory of his belongings (see Mss Eur F206) compiled in 1830, before returning home, tells us that he had in his drawing room seven oil paintings by Sir Charles and Lady D’Oyly and two by Jai Ram Das. Various other Macnabb inventories refer similarly to oil paintings by Sir Charles and Lady D’Oyly, as if they were indistinguishable as artists. It is not, however, clear whether they worked together or individually to produce paintings. A guess may be hazarded that Lady D’Oyly contributed to the small oil paintings such as these while her husband worked alone on the larger oils.

A very similar painting is reproduced as Shellim's fig.10, as ‘View of the Raje Mahal hills from Sikri Gully on the River Ganges’. Shellim’s description of figs. 9 and 10 should be reversed.