Fort St. George [Madras]

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

George Lambert, theatre scene and landscape painter, divided his career equally between the two professions. For most of his life he lived in Covent Garden. His early style of the 1720s is similar to that of John Wootton. However, his later classical landscapes earned him the accolade ‘the English Poussin’. Lambert painted the landscape backgrounds for William Hogarth’s paintings ‘The Pool of Bethesda’ and ‘The Good Samaritan’, made for St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (1736-37). In 1761 he was elected chairman of the newly founded Society of Artists of Great Britain. The Society received the Royal Seal on 26th January 1765 and just five days later Lambert died at his home in Covent Garden, leaving his possessions to his servant, Ann Terry.
Samuel Scott, marine and topographical painter, was born in London in c.1702. His early subjects were marine scenes and naval engagements, painted in the style of the van de Veldes. However, following Antonio Canaletto's visit to the capital in 1746, Scott was influenced by the growing popularity of the Venetian artist's views of London and the Thames and devoted himself almost exclusively to this subject. Scott's London views became particularly popular. Unlike other imitators of Canaletto, he avoided the Venetian artist's permanent Venetian blue skies. He settled in the fashionable writers' and artists' village of Twickenham but later moved to Bath, where he died.

Places

India, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Subjects

rowing boat, topography, seascape/coastal scene, smoke, hill, sea, flag, cannon, fortress, citadel, ship

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

George Lambert (c.1700 - 1765)
Samuel Scott (c.1702 - 1772)
Gerard van der Gucht (1696 - 1776)

Title

Fort St. George [Madras]

Date

Medium

Coloured engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from the Parker Gallery, June 1960

GAC number

5204