WHITE, Col. GEORGE FRANCIS (1808-1898)

"A Calm On The Ganges, India (Janghera, or the Fakeers' Rock)" (1845)
Watercolour & bodycolour
20 x 30cm
Signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
White was an Important, influential British Colonial Travel Watercolourist (& muse of J.M.W. Turner). This gorgeous original watercolour was produced while White was stationed on the Ganges near Sultanganj in the province of Bihar. Janghera, or Fakeer's Rock is a sacred site with a pagoda & shrine dedicated to the Hindu deity, Naryan. Pilgrims visit the island temple by boat. A similar view of Janghera by White was reproduced by renowned British Marine Painter and engraver, Clarkson Stanfield (1793-1867) for the important travel publication "Hindustan" (1845). White was promoted to Lieutenant in the 31st Regiment of Foot in 1828, Captain in 1841 and rose to the rank of Major in 1848. He retired on half-pay as Lieutenant-Colonel in 1854. He served in India with his regiment from 1825 to 1846, where he travelled, painted and sketched prolifically Colonial India under the control of the British. Many of White's drawings were engraved. Some of his sketches, done in conjunction with Commander Robert Elliot, were reworked by professional artists such as Cotman, Cox, Prout, Copley Fielding and J.M.W. Turner, for the volume of engravings entitled Hindostan, the shores of the Red Sea and the Himalaya Mountains, illustrated, London, 1845. His sketches were also worked up and engraved for Views in India, chiefly among the Himalaya Mountains taken during the tours in the direction of Mussooree, Simla, the sources of the Jumna and Ganges etc. in 1829, 31, 32, London, 1836. A watercolour by J.M.W. Turner after a drawing by White of The Snowy Range from Tyre or Marma, was sold at Christie's London, Visions of India, 5 June 1996. He returned to England in 1848 and became Second Chief Constable of Durham and from 1880-1892 a Deputy Lieutenant of the County. His work is represented in the collection of the India Office Library.