Painting

Sir Charles D'Oyly

1781 - 1845
Circa 1826

• Watercolour on paper
  7 x 16.5 cms
  7 x 13 cms
  5.5 x 16 cms

D’Oyly was a talented amateur painter who entered the service of East India Company in 1798 and held several government posts. Whilst in Dacca he met George Chinnery and went of painting expeditions with the celebrated artist with whom he became a close friend. One of the most productive periods was during his time in Patna from 1821 until 1831, during which he was Opium Agent and the Commercial Resident, when he produced numeral topographical paintings and sketches.
In 1817 he married Elizabeth Rose, also a talented amateur painter. The Macnab papers record oil paintings by her though none of these can be certainly identified and on the evidence of known watercolours by her, her talents were inferior to those of her husband. It is possible that she could have assisted her husband in some of his oil paintings though her collaboration if any must have been small. Moreover the present works are entirely consistent in style and quality with other known works by Sir Charles D’Oyly of whom Bishop Herber wrote: ‘...he is the best gentleman artist I have ever met with. He says India is full of beautiful picturesque country, if people would but stir a little from the banks of Ganges, and his own drawings and paintings certainly make good his assertion’.