Depicting the British Abroad: Johann Zoffany’s Tuscan and Indian Experience 1770-1790

Depicting the British Abroad: Johann Zoffany’s Tuscan and Indian Experience 1770-1790

Speakers: Dr. Arundhati Virmani, Indian historian who teaches at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Marseille; and Prof. Jean Boutier, Directeur d’ Études, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Marseille

 

The painter, Johann Zoffany who settled in England in the 1770s, is a typical example of a cosmopolitan artist in 18th century Europe. Trained in Rome by some of the most reputed painters of the time, and finally settled in London, where in the 1760s he became a very successful portraitist at court and amongst the British aristocracy. In his large production of artistic works, two paintings stand out particularly. Both are devoted to the British abroad. The first represents the travelers of the Grand Tour visiting Florence (1778), and the second, a cock match organized by Colonel Modaunt, commander of the bodyguards of the Nawab of Awadh (1788). Based on an analysis of these two works, the talk will discuss the emergence of new behaviours in British society during the course of the 18th century