Portrait of a Mughal ruler
date: label: Date
content: mid 19th century
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Company school
label: Provenance
content: 1857-?
label: Provenance
content: Reportedly Captain William Stephen Raikes Hodson (1821-1858), taken after the British storming of Delhi [1]
label: Provenance
content: 1857-1890
label: Provenance
content: Ownership information unknown
label: Provenance
content: By 1890
label: Provenance
content: Colonel Henry Bathurst Hanna (1839-1914), method of acquisition unknown [2]
label: Provenance
content: 1907-1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Colonel Henry Bathurst Hanna [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See “Catalogue of Indo-Persian Pictures and Manuscripts, Principally of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries by Native Artists, Collected by H. B. Hanna” [book], (London: Dowdeswell and Dowdeswells, 1890), page 24.
label: Provenance
content: This catalog indicates “Taken by Hodson, near Hamáyan’s Tomb, after the assault and capture of that city in September, 1857.”
label: Provenance
content: Captain William Stephen Raikes Hodson was a British Army soldier who led an irregular calvary regiment during the Indian Rebellion (1857-1859). Born in Gloucestershire, England, Hodson was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He enlisted in the British Army in 1844, serving in the first Anglo-Sikh War, 1845-46. In 1857, he was charged with leading 2,000 irregular horsemen during the Indian Rebellion at Delhi, where he accepted the surrender of Bahadur Shah II, the last of the Mughal emperors of India, near Hamáyan’s Tomb. Hodson died in 1858 fighting at Lucknow, where his remains were buried.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See “Catalogue of Indo-Persian Pictures and Manuscripts, Principally of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries by Native Artists, Collected by H. B. Hanna” [book].
label: Provenance
content: Colonel Henry Bathurst Hanna (1839-1914) was an officer in the British military and a collector of Indian paintings. Born in Petersfield, Hampshire, England, Hanna’s family later moved to London, where he was baptized in 1851. Beginning in 1857, Hanna served as a commissioned officer in the Indian Army and retired with the rank of Colonel in 1889. After his retirement, he resided in London and Petersfield with his younger sisters. According to Hanna, he began collecting Indian paintings around the time of the Indian Rebellion (1857-1859). See letter from Henry Bathurst Hanna to Charles Lang Freer, dated April 10, 1908 [sic, 1907], p. 3, Box 17, Folder No. 10, Charles Lang Freer Papers, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See Charles Lang Freer art voucher no. 24, “For a collection of Indo-Persian pictures and manuscripts” from H. B. Hanna of Heathmere, Petersfield, Hants. [Hampshire], England, from October 1907, Box 114, Folder No. 12, Charles Lang Freer Papers, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., copy in object file.
label: Provenance
content: [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Provenance
content: Research updated April 19, 2024
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Colonel Henry Bathurst Hanna (1839-1914) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Captain William Stephen Raikes Hodson (1821-1858)
place: label: Origin
content: India
topic: label: Topic
content: portrait
label: Topic
content: India
label: Topic
content: South Asian and Himalayan Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1907.619
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Watercolor on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 8.6 x 7.6 cm (3 3/8 x 3 in)