FOLLOWER OF THOMAS HICKEY PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN small full length in black stock

FOLLOWER OF THOMAS HICKEY PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN small full length in black stock, red coat, yellow breeches and waistcoat, his tricorn on a cannon before a tent in Indian landscape with a fort in the distance, a letter in his left hand addressed J Wallerich Bombay, oil on canvas, oval, 44 x 35cmThe sitter, whose identity may be established on removal of the 'strengthening' of the signature would, it seems safe to assume, have either been a civilian of the Bombay Presidency or an Officer of the same in undress. The tent, a reference to service in the field, cannon and fort taken together point to his involvement in some way with a siege operation. There were several such sieges in the first Anglo-Maratha war, 1775-1782, including that of the great fortress of Gwalior in 1780.