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Lot Essay
Pirates, under the command of Tulagee Angria, had long ravaged shipping of all nationalities off the Malabar coast of western India, south of Bombay. By the mid-1750s these attacks on East India company ships had become increasingly common, even extending to include British ships-of-the-line as Angria tightened and expanded his control along the coast. In 1755 Commodore William James (1721-1783), commander of the East India Company’s fleet attacked and captured Angria’s northern bases in Severndroog, but Geriah, fortified and on the side of a mountain inaccessible from the sea, remained the pirate’s principal stronghold. By the end of the year reinforcements arrived in the shape of a small squadron of 14 ships lead by Rear-Admiral Charles Watson (1714-1757) in his flagship H.M.S. Kent, and a force of 800 European and 1,000 Indian troops was mustered under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Clive (1725-1774), freshly returned from England. The combined assault was launched on 12 February 1756 and within two days the citadel and town were in British hands.
In 1771 Serres was commissioned to paint two large canvases by Watson’s family of The Capture of Geriah, February 1756 and The capture of Chandernagore, March 1757, both of which are now in the collection of the National Maritime Musuem, London. Commodore William James, who had by then returned to England having made his fortune in India, was probably inspired by the Watson paintings to commission Serres in 1773 to commemorate his own triumphs against Angria at Severndroog and Geriah in a small series of paintings.
The present picture shows two lines of ships approaching Geriah, led by the smaller East India Company vessels in the left-hand line acting as pilots through the shallower waters for the larger ships following on the right. Serres clearly identifies the commanders’ ships, such as the 70 gun H.M.S. Kent, fourth from the right, which flies Rear-Admiral Watson’s flag at the mizzen, and more conspicuously Commodore James’ flagship Protector at the rear of the right-hand line. In view of the prominence given to Protector within the composition and the fact that the campaign at Severndroog and Geriah marked the pinnacle of James’ career in India, it is highly likely that the present picture is one of the three paintings commissioned by James to commemorate the culminating achievement of his command of the Honourable East India Company fleet.
We are grateful to Alan Russett for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs (written communication, 24 November 2018) and for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
In 1771 Serres was commissioned to paint two large canvases by Watson’s family of The Capture of Geriah, February 1756 and The capture of Chandernagore, March 1757, both of which are now in the collection of the National Maritime Musuem, London. Commodore William James, who had by then returned to England having made his fortune in India, was probably inspired by the Watson paintings to commission Serres in 1773 to commemorate his own triumphs against Angria at Severndroog and Geriah in a small series of paintings.
The present picture shows two lines of ships approaching Geriah, led by the smaller East India Company vessels in the left-hand line acting as pilots through the shallower waters for the larger ships following on the right. Serres clearly identifies the commanders’ ships, such as the 70 gun H.M.S. Kent, fourth from the right, which flies Rear-Admiral Watson’s flag at the mizzen, and more conspicuously Commodore James’ flagship Protector at the rear of the right-hand line. In view of the prominence given to Protector within the composition and the fact that the campaign at Severndroog and Geriah marked the pinnacle of James’ career in India, it is highly likely that the present picture is one of the three paintings commissioned by James to commemorate the culminating achievement of his command of the Honourable East India Company fleet.
We are grateful to Alan Russett for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs (written communication, 24 November 2018) and for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.