Home had been the only professional artist present during the Third Mysore War of 1790-92 and had made first-hand sketches and studies of the soldiers of Tipu Sultan and the Maratha allies of the British during the campaign.
He allowed the Daniells to copy some of his drawings of figures in both pencil and watercolour.
This scene titled Tippoo’s Bodyguard (Figure leaning on matchlock) from c.1793, attributed to Thomas and William Daniell, is among a group of 10 watercolours of Indian military figures offered by Grosvenor Gallery during Asian Art in London. It is believed they were among those copied from Hone’s sketch books.
The group was previously in the collection of William Young Carman, the deputy director of the National Army Museum who in 1968 published Indian Army Uniforms Under the British from the 18th Century to 1947: Artillery, Engineers and Infantry. Each is priced at a five-figure sum.
