View in Ceylon with Soldiers and Natives on a Road

Location

Country: Sri Lanka
City: Colombo
Place: British High Commission

Marine painter and etcher James Miller Huggins was the son of marine painter William John Huggins. When he was about ten, James’s family settled in Leadenhall Street, London, near the headquarters of the British East India Company. James was taught by his father and made engravings after his father’s works. By 1830, the year William was appointed Marine Painter to William IV, James had moved to Stepney. Despite his father’s success, James rarely exhibited, showing four paintings at the Royal Society of British Artists from 1826 and just one at the British Institution in 1842. Works by James are now in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. His brother, John W. Huggins, also produced etchings after their father’s shipping portraits.

Places

Sri Lanka

Subjects

topography, landscape C19th, seascape/coastal scene, tree, hill, Sri Lankan, man, woman, military uniform, parasol, parade, soldier, road, ship

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

James Miller Huggins (c.1807 - after 1865)

Title

View in Ceylon with Soldiers and Natives on a Road

Date

1834

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 45.50 cm, width: 59.60 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Gooden & Fox, December 1953

Inscription

bl (on rock): J. M. HUggINS / 1834

Provenance

With Appleby Bros., London; from whom purchased by Gooden & Fox, London, in July 1953; from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in December 1953

GAC number

2514