Set against a golden evening sky, General Allard, dressed in a European-style military uniform under a Kashmiri cloak, sits with his wife Banu Pan Dei, their children, who play on the floor, and their infant child, held in the arms of a nurse-maid. With them are the general’s secretary, holding a pen and a sheet of paper, a serving girl pouring tea, and the aforementioned nurse-maid. There are wonderful details in the garments, textiles, jewellery, the tea set on the table (the stream of tea can be seen pouring out of the spout), the gold bottle on the floor, the children's dolls and shoes, and the pietra-dura of the buildings. Allard’s distinctive beard was commented upon by Fanny Parks (1794-1875), who remarked that he seemed “the most picturesque person imaginable; his long, forked beard, divided in the centre, hangs down on either side of his face; at dinner time he passes one end of his beard over one ear, and the other end over the ear.” (Parks 1850, vol.II, p.103, quoted in Welch 1978, p.125). Although painted in 1838, the scene is based on his life in Lahore some years earlier, for in 1834 he had returned to France with his family and when he came back to India in 1836 he came alone. Thus the painting represents a visual memory of earlier times. As Welch suggested, “Sadly this .... painting must have been inspired by his loneliness.” (Welch 1978, p.125).

The story of General Allard in Lahore and the works of the artist Imam Bakhsh, including this painting, have been thoroughly discussed by Jean-Marie Lafont and Barbara Schmitz (2002). During his furlough in France in 1834-36 two large oil paintings of him were produced. One, by Joseph Désirée Court and now in the Musée Nationale de la Marine, showed him standing alone; the other was a group portrait of Allard and his family, possibly by Delacroix. It may have been destined for the Paris Salon of 1836 but was never exhibited and remained with the Allard family in southern France (Lafont and Schmitz 2002, fig.8, p.84). It showed the family dressed and arranged exactly as they are in the present portrait, with the architecture and landscape of Lahore clearly depicted in the background. The compositions of the present work and the French oil version are so close that they must have been based on the same sketch or sketches.

Allard returned to Lahore in 1836, leaving his family in France, and he must have taken with him a sketch of the French oil, presumably as a reminder of his beloved family. The sketch was seen by an English officer, William Barr, on his way to Afghanistan in February 1839. He commented that the picture “of the General and his family, taken by a French artist when he returned home some three or four years ago… being only the design from which a larger drawing was made, the group is well arranged, and the pretty faces of his Cashmerian wife and his children … drew forth admiration from us all.” (Barr 1844). It was no doubt from this sketch, which itself had probably been based on sketches done in Lahore before 1834, that Imam Bakhsh must have made the present version.

Jean-François Allard (1785-1839) was a French cavalry officer who served during the Napoleonic wars and took part in the Battle of Waterloo. He was awarded the Legion d’Honneur, which can be seen round his neck in the current portrait. After Napoleon’s downfall in 1815 he travelled via Egypt to Persia, offering his services to the crown prince Abbas Mirza. Unsuccessful there, he moved on to Lahore, arriving in 1822, where he secured a position training regiments of cavalry for Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Punjab. In this he was highly successful, his troops distinguishing themselves, and he became a favoured adviser of the maharaja, being awarded the honour of The Bright Star of the Punjab, which he also wears round his neck in this portrait. Allard continued to serve Ranjit Singh in the Punjab until he died in 1839.

The artist Imam Bakhsh Lahori (active 1820s-1840s) was the leading artist in Lahore in the second quarter of the 19th century. He painted for Maharaja Ranjit Singh and local aristocrats as well as for Europeans resident in Lahore. In addition to portraits of General Allard, he also painted Claude Court and Paolo Avitabile, other European officers serving Ranjit Singh. He was a versatile artist whose work included illuminated and illustrated manuscripts and single-page paintings and albums. His illustrations in the famous copy of La Fontaine’s Fables commissioned by Felix Feuillet de Conches are in the Musée de la Fontaine, France (Lafont and Schmitz 2002, pp.75, 86-90). A portrait of Ranjit Singh by Imam Bakhsh Lahori is in the Royal Collection, Windsor (Hannam 2018, no.75, pp.214-5), and other works by him are in the Musée Guimet, Paris. For illustrations of these see Stronge 1999 (as indexed), Lafont and Schmitz 2002, figs.1-12.