Drawings and watercolors from the private sketching diary of Major-General Frederick Stafford Hewett (1826-1880), comprising an album with 159 drawings and topographical views and 47 framed and 4 mounted works,
India, 1869-1872

Ink and watercolour on paper, including watercolours of botanical specimens such as the Baniyan and Peepul trees, a number of topographical views of the Ghats mountain ranges, coastal views, scenes in and around Hyderabad, churches in Bombay, the interiors and exteriors of houses in Kolapore, elephants, alligators, leopards, caricatures and drawings of fantastical beasts, women's shoes and petticoats, many with identifying inscriptions and dated,?

Folio 13 x 20.2cm.; topographical views over two pages

Provenance: Acquired from the family in 2010

Incomplete list of topographical views:

Bunder or Landing place at Oorun, Bombay Harbour, February 1869;
Cape Bougaroni, Tas Sebba Tous, Algeria, 17th May, 1873, height of peak about 2600 ft;?
Gibralter from the S. 21st May '73;
Little Harnish Islands Red Sea from the Freddo, Liverpool 29th April '73
End of the Salpette Hills near Vehar, Feb. 11th 1870;
View on the Creek between Thanneh & Bassein February 1869
The Rock of St Helena, Feb '55;
The Hill Fort of Sattara, Mar '68
Gateshwar Hill: Battara April 8th 1868;
The Church Belfry at Kolapore, April 29th '72;
The divine shed or Church Bunalow, Kolapore April 27 1872;
Roman Catholic Cathedral, Kolapore;
Range of Hills and Fort at Sunkeishwar between Belgauru and Kolapore November 18th 1871;
The Fort of Rajkote Feb 23rd 1873;
Rajkote Feb 23rd 1873;
The Ghaut Mountains of India: Noticeable Peculiarities in the Ghaut Scenery (13 drawings);
Hindoo Temple near Kolapore Jan 4 1872;
The Port of Rutnagherry: Malabar Coast, April 19th 1870;
The Port of Anjunwell, Malabar Coast, April 19th 1870;
Vingerla Bay, April 20th 1870;
Summit of the Ghaut at Amboolay, April 23rd 1870;
Practique. In the Grand Harbor, Malta, May 13th 1873
Corner of the Fort of Hyderabad, Scinde: on the road to the Intrenocked (?) camp;
Road to the Gate of the Fort at Hyderabad, Scinde, 1852;
View of the Fort of Hyderabad, Scine, Nov.'52;
Top of the Round Tower Fort Hyderabad, Scinde '52;
Gibralter from the East 21 May '73 from the Jeddo - Homeward bound;
Suez from the Canal 6th May '73;
Bombay Harbour May 6th 1869;
Algiers from the Steamer "Jeddo", Saturday May 18th 1873;
Vorun and Caranjah, Bombay Harbour, March 25th 1870;
Bombay Harbour from the Lighthouse, Nov 20th 1869;
Thannah Fort: now the Jail Dec 16th 1869;
Sketch at Rovee: on the banks of the Indus Upper scinde April '46
Grove of strange trees: near Thanna, Adansonia digitala: African Baobab, Feb 4th 1871

The importance of this extraordinary sketching diary lies in both the undeniable artistic ability of Major-General Hewett and in the view it presents of a period of British rule in India. Amidst the obvious influence of Alice in Wonderland illustrator John Tennial on the interest in caricature, skeletons, women's dress in his more whimsical and comical observations of Victorian society, he was a keen and sensitive observer of his surroundings and his drawings of the Ghat ranges and trees sit alongside the portfolios of animal, botanical, architectural and erotic subjects commissioned by the East India Company in the 18th and 19th centuries. The drawings formed the subject of a selling exhibition in 2011 by Sim Fine Art, however the bulk of the diary remains including the topographical views which are of historical significance.??

A career soldier, Hewett served in the Bombay Presidency between 1868-1872, a period in the region's history defined by its socio-political turbulence. Whilst commanding the 28th regiment of Native Infantry, Hewett produced his diary, delineating a highly personalised engagement with the area spanning Bombay and Hyderabad. Such artistic practices were not unusual amongst officers, since all those serving abroad were given a degree of formal instruction in drawing as a means of facilitating military surveying. Crucially, however, what is unique about the body of Hewett's topographical drawings, notwithstanding his technical accomplishment, is the superlative level of detail.?

Reference: Sim Fine Art, The weird and wonderful world of Major-General Frederick Stafford Hewett (1826-1880), London 2011

Institutions which hold works by Major General Frederick Stafford Hewett are the Wellcome Collection 799372i

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