Arthur William Devis

This portrait, which features a prominent Indian temple in the background, was painted by the British artist Arthur William Devis. Born the son of the Arthur Devis (1711–1787), who made his fame with portraits and conversation pieces, the younger Arthur William embarked on a fascinating career as a painter, which resulted in him arriving in India in November 1784. As explained most eloquently in Mildred Archer's book, unlike most painters who went to India by choice, Arthur William arrived almost by accident.¹ He had been originally sent as a draughtsman on the Antelope, a boat destined for China, yet, through a series of strange episodes Devis stayed in Asia for much longer than originally planned. His portraits of British sitters in India, often with characteristic buildings, landscapes and exotic trees in the background, remain among the most celebrated paintings produced by a western artist in South Asia.

The sitter has traditionally been identified as Robert Linney, according to an old label on the reverse of the painting. It is most probable that this is the same Robert Linney of Burton Lazars, Leicestershire, whose death was recorded in 1809 in The Gentleman's Magazine, where he was described as 'a respectable grazier'.² Almost no trace of Linney's life has been recorded, although, this painting suggests that at the end of the eighteenth-century he had at least some connection with the Indian sub-continent.

A comparable small-scale full-length portrait by Devis, showing Thomas Hardcastle of Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire standing against a wooded background, was sold in these rooms in 1993.³

¹ M. Archer, India and British Portraiture 1770–1825, London and Oxford 1979, pp. 234–69.

² The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 79, pt. 2, p. 1077. This may be the same Robert Linney who is recorded to have married Ann Snow on 13 October 1796, according to the Melton Mowbray Parish Register transcribed:

http://leicestershireparishrecords.blogspot.com/2010/04/phillmores-marriages-melton-mowbray.html

³ Sotheby's, London, 14 July 1993, lot 65.