John Smart
Portrait of Col. Maxwell playing the violin, 1785
Pencil and watercolour on laid paper
5.1 x 3.9in., (13 x 10cm)
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com Hamilton Maxwell was born in Wigtown in 1754, the second son of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, Wigtownshire, third baronet, (c.1712–1771),...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
Hamilton Maxwell was born in Wigtown in 1754, the second son of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, Wigtownshire, third baronet, (c.1712–1771), and his wife, Magdalene. His sister Jane became 4th Duchess of Gordon.
Maxwell entered the army as an ensign in the 58th Regiment of Foot in 1770 at the age of sixteen and left Scotland for North America in 1775/6, after obtaining a captaincy in the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot. Upon arrival in America, he was captured but later exchanged. In 1778 he was promoted to the rank of major in the newly raised 2nd Bn. 73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot. He here served with his battalion during the siege of Gibraltar, notably commanding the reserve and being second-in-command of the centre column in the famous sortie from Gibraltar to attack the Spanish lines on 26th/27th November 1781. Maxwell is shown in the version of John Trumbull’s painting of that sortie: he is the Highland officer flanked by two other infantry officers on the extreme right of the painting and engraving (see fig.1).
At the end of the War of the American Rebellion, Maxwell’s battalion was ordered home to Scotland and disbanded at Stirling on 3rd October 1783. By that time Maxwell had been appointed by brevet to the rank of lieutenant-colonel (in the East Indies only), on 11th June 1782, and in the British army, on 22nd August 1783. Upon the disbandment of 2nd/73rd Regiment in 1783, those officers of the battalion wishing to continue to serve were allowed, at their own expense, to travel to India in order to join the 73rd’s first battalion, which in June 1784 moved its station from Arcot to Fort St George, Madras. This portrait of Maxwell, which shows him in informal day wear (as opposed to military attire), was undoubtedly drawn when both he and Smart were aboard the ship The Dutton East Indiaman.
The Dutton, under Captain James West, sailed from England on the 19th April 1785 and arrived in Madras on the 6th September in the same year. During the long months on board ship, Smart drew other passengers and crew, presumably partially for business (there is the possibility that some sketches were worked up into watercolour miniatures on ivory) and partially to ease the boredom of the long journey. A portrait on similar laid paper of Captain West, dated 1785 and drawn on the ship, is in the collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
A son of the British judge, Sir Elijah Impey, described in his Memoirs a previous journey on the Dutton with Captain West, giving valuable insight into life on board ship:
‘The Dutton had for some years been the favourite India passage-ship; her commander, Captain James West, had the just reputation of being a first-rate mariner, a well-informed, and thoroughly practical man of business…To what a degree a long sea voyage and close confinement on ship-board are a test of good temper, has passed into a proverb.’
Like the portrait of Captain West, this portrait of Maxwell was probably retained by Smart as a memento of his journey. This is supported by the fact that the drawing descended through the artist’s family before it was finally sold at Christie’s in 1937. Daphne Foskett’s monograph on Smart notes a further portrait of Colonel Maxwell dated 1785, which can be assumed to be a miniature. This gives some insight into Smart’s working practice and suggests that he was still commissioned to paint miniatures while confined to the ship.
Maxwell’s journey to Madras was not in vain. In March 1786, he was commanding a detachment of the 71st regiment at Chingleput (now Chengalpattu), a coastal district south of Madras. A successful military career followed, cut short by his death at the age of forty.
Maxwell remained in India for the rest of his life. On 3rd November 1788, he was promoted to regimental lieutenant-colonel to command the newly raised 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot which arrived at Madras from Scotland aboard six East Indiamen between July 1788 and June 1789. Almost immediately the 74th was assembled, it became involved with other British and East India Company forces in the 3rd Mysore War (1789-92). Maxwell initially commanded the 1st Brigade of the Madras Army within the Bengal Division but subsequently commanded the division and successfully resisted an attack by Mysore forces under Tipu Sultan at Kaverripattinam on 12th November 1790.
Maxwell’s success against Tipu was rewarded by his being given command of four-brigade-strong Left Wing of the army commanded by General William Medows which pursued Tipu’s forces across the Carnatic for the remainder of 1790. In 1791, during the British advance upon Tipu’s capital Seringapatam, Maxwell was given command of a brigade tasked with keeping open the British lines of communication between Madras and Seringapatam: this necessitated the capture or neutralisation of Tipu’s forts of Pinagra and Kistnagherry, the success of which operations was recorded in a General Order published late in 1791: ‘Lord Cornwallis returns his best thanks to Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell for the zealous and able manner in which he has executed his general instructions to dislodge and drive out the detachments that the enemy had sent into the Baramahal Valley and the district of Ousoor. The good conduct and gallantry which was manifested at the assault of Pinagra reflects great credit upon Colonel Maxwell and the Corps under his command…’.
In early February 1792, with some distinction, Maxwell commanded the Left Division of Cornwallis’s Army during the assault upon Seringapatam and the capture of that fortress signalled the end of the war. Maxwell’s service during the 3rd Mysore War was rewarded in October 1793 by the brevet rank of colonel and appointment as aide-de-camp to King George III but he died, unmarried, at Cuddalore on 8th June 1794 and was buried in the compound of the Church of England church in Oldtown, Cuddalore, where he was commemorated by a memorial stone inscribed as follows: ‘Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Hamilton Maxwell, son of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, Bart., aide-de-camp to the King and Lieut.-Col. of H.M.’s 74th Highland Regiment of Foot, who died, universally regretted by all who knew him, at the house of his friend, John Kenworthy, Esq., at Newtown, on June 8, 1794, in the 40th [sic] year of his age. In testimony of the affection they bore their gallant commander, and as a tribute to his talents and many virtues, this monument is erected by the officers of the 74th’.
Hamilton Maxwell was born in Wigtown in 1754, the second son of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, Wigtownshire, third baronet, (c.1712–1771), and his wife, Magdalene. His sister Jane became 4th Duchess of Gordon.
Maxwell entered the army as an ensign in the 58th Regiment of Foot in 1770 at the age of sixteen and left Scotland for North America in 1775/6, after obtaining a captaincy in the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot. Upon arrival in America, he was captured but later exchanged. In 1778 he was promoted to the rank of major in the newly raised 2nd Bn. 73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot. He here served with his battalion during the siege of Gibraltar, notably commanding the reserve and being second-in-command of the centre column in the famous sortie from Gibraltar to attack the Spanish lines on 26th/27th November 1781. Maxwell is shown in the version of John Trumbull’s painting of that sortie: he is the Highland officer flanked by two other infantry officers on the extreme right of the painting and engraving (see fig.1).
At the end of the War of the American Rebellion, Maxwell’s battalion was ordered home to Scotland and disbanded at Stirling on 3rd October 1783. By that time Maxwell had been appointed by brevet to the rank of lieutenant-colonel (in the East Indies only), on 11th June 1782, and in the British army, on 22nd August 1783. Upon the disbandment of 2nd/73rd Regiment in 1783, those officers of the battalion wishing to continue to serve were allowed, at their own expense, to travel to India in order to join the 73rd’s first battalion, which in June 1784 moved its station from Arcot to Fort St George, Madras. This portrait of Maxwell, which shows him in informal day wear (as opposed to military attire), was undoubtedly drawn when both he and Smart were aboard the ship The Dutton East Indiaman.
The Dutton, under Captain James West, sailed from England on the 19th April 1785 and arrived in Madras on the 6th September in the same year. During the long months on board ship, Smart drew other passengers and crew, presumably partially for business (there is the possibility that some sketches were worked up into watercolour miniatures on ivory) and partially to ease the boredom of the long journey. A portrait on similar laid paper of Captain West, dated 1785 and drawn on the ship, is in the collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
A son of the British judge, Sir Elijah Impey, described in his Memoirs a previous journey on the Dutton with Captain West, giving valuable insight into life on board ship:
‘The Dutton had for some years been the favourite India passage-ship; her commander, Captain James West, had the just reputation of being a first-rate mariner, a well-informed, and thoroughly practical man of business…To what a degree a long sea voyage and close confinement on ship-board are a test of good temper, has passed into a proverb.’
Like the portrait of Captain West, this portrait of Maxwell was probably retained by Smart as a memento of his journey. This is supported by the fact that the drawing descended through the artist’s family before it was finally sold at Christie’s in 1937. Daphne Foskett’s monograph on Smart notes a further portrait of Colonel Maxwell dated 1785, which can be assumed to be a miniature. This gives some insight into Smart’s working practice and suggests that he was still commissioned to paint miniatures while confined to the ship.
Maxwell’s journey to Madras was not in vain. In March 1786, he was commanding a detachment of the 71st regiment at Chingleput (now Chengalpattu), a coastal district south of Madras. A successful military career followed, cut short by his death at the age of forty.
Maxwell remained in India for the rest of his life. On 3rd November 1788, he was promoted to regimental lieutenant-colonel to command the newly raised 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot which arrived at Madras from Scotland aboard six East Indiamen between July 1788 and June 1789. Almost immediately the 74th was assembled, it became involved with other British and East India Company forces in the 3rd Mysore War (1789-92). Maxwell initially commanded the 1st Brigade of the Madras Army within the Bengal Division but subsequently commanded the division and successfully resisted an attack by Mysore forces under Tipu Sultan at Kaverripattinam on 12th November 1790.
Maxwell’s success against Tipu was rewarded by his being given command of four-brigade-strong Left Wing of the army commanded by General William Medows which pursued Tipu’s forces across the Carnatic for the remainder of 1790. In 1791, during the British advance upon Tipu’s capital Seringapatam, Maxwell was given command of a brigade tasked with keeping open the British lines of communication between Madras and Seringapatam: this necessitated the capture or neutralisation of Tipu’s forts of Pinagra and Kistnagherry, the success of which operations was recorded in a General Order published late in 1791: ‘Lord Cornwallis returns his best thanks to Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell for the zealous and able manner in which he has executed his general instructions to dislodge and drive out the detachments that the enemy had sent into the Baramahal Valley and the district of Ousoor. The good conduct and gallantry which was manifested at the assault of Pinagra reflects great credit upon Colonel Maxwell and the Corps under his command…’.
In early February 1792, with some distinction, Maxwell commanded the Left Division of Cornwallis’s Army during the assault upon Seringapatam and the capture of that fortress signalled the end of the war. Maxwell’s service during the 3rd Mysore War was rewarded in October 1793 by the brevet rank of colonel and appointment as aide-de-camp to King George III but he died, unmarried, at Cuddalore on 8th June 1794 and was buried in the compound of the Church of England church in Oldtown, Cuddalore, where he was commemorated by a memorial stone inscribed as follows: ‘Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Hamilton Maxwell, son of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, Bart., aide-de-camp to the King and Lieut.-Col. of H.M.’s 74th Highland Regiment of Foot, who died, universally regretted by all who knew him, at the house of his friend, John Kenworthy, Esq., at Newtown, on June 8, 1794, in the 40th [sic] year of his age. In testimony of the affection they bore their gallant commander, and as a tribute to his talents and many virtues, this monument is erected by the officers of the 74th’.
Provenance
Mrs Dyer, great-granddaughter of the artistChristie’s, November 26th 1937, lot 47.
The Fine Art Society Ltd., London