Item Description

Title:                 Indian Scenes Album Leaf (Recto: Elephant / Verso: Figure Studies)

Artist:               Major A.C. Hutchinson (British, Bengal Artillery, fl. 1830–1856)

Region: Likely executed in Northern India, possibly in the Mussoorie region, Uttarakhand

Period/Style:   Anglo-Indian Company School

Date:               From the Major A.C. Hutchinson Indian sketch album dated 1837

Medium:         Pen, ink, wash, and watercolor with graphite on paper

Dimensions:   11 x 7.5 inches (28 x 18 cm)

Presentation:  Loose - Unframed and unmounted

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Description:

A highly compelling and visually rich Anglo-Indian Company School album leaf by Major A.C. Hutchinson, dated within the period of his documented Indian sketchbook activity of 1837. The sheet belongs to a remarkable surviving album assembled by Hutchinson during his service with the Bengal Artillery, where he rose from cadet in 1830 to the rank of Major by 1856. According to period references cited by the original dealer, Hutchinson was an avid amateur artist who filled an extensive album with studies of Indian life, animals, costume figures, academic copies, and ethnographic observations produced during his time in India, particularly around Mussoorie.

The recto presents a tethered Indian elephant executed with assured graphite line and restrained wash, capturing the mass and temperament of the animal with notable immediacy. The handling aligns closely with early Anglo-Indian Company School observational drawing traditions, where British military officers and amateur draughtsmen documented local subjects, animals, and daily life alongside professionally trained Indian artists.

The verso is especially rich and varied, featuring a dense arrangement of academic and ethnographic studies, including:

* A large classical nude male figure drawn after a European academic prototype

* A standing Armenian figure identified in inscription

* Studies of Indian “Gwalines” (milk sellers) rendered in regional costume

* Additional Indian native figures and ancillary sketch material

The juxtaposition of European academic study and direct observation of Indian subjects within the same working sheet is highly characteristic of private Company-period sketchbooks and provides unusual insight into the visual culture of British India during the early nineteenth century.

Importantly, this drawing comes from the now-dispersed Hutchinson album described by the original British dealer, who noted that the sketchbook contained Indian scenes, figure studies, copies after well-known works, and numerous drawings executed on both sides of the sheets. The album reportedly suffered from insect damage and tears over time, with some wormholes professionally stabilized or covered during conservation. The dealer specifically identified this sheet as depicting “a tethered Indian elephant” on the front and “Indian native figures, an Armenian and a Greek warrior” on the reverse.

Hutchinson reportedly signed and dated the first leaf of the album “Mussooree, 1837,” and included the following period ownership verse on the cover:

“Steal not this book for fear of shame,

For in’t you’ll find the owner’s name,

And when you die the Lord will say,

Where is that book you stole away.”

Works from privately compiled Anglo-Indian albums of this type are increasingly scarce on the market, particularly examples retaining strong ethnographic and natural history interest across both sides of the sheet. The present example is especially attractive for its combination of animal study, academic training imagery, and colonial-era observational figure drawing within a single surviving leaf.

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Condition: Unmounted album leaf drawn on both sides. Evidence of age, handling, and period insect damage consistent with the dispersed Hutchinson album. Areas of restoration and stabilization present, including repaired wormholes and tears as noted in the original dealer documentation.

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Provenance:

From the dispersed sketch album of Major A.C. Hutchinson of the Bengal Artillery, an amateur artist active in India during the early nineteenth century. According to documentation, the album was signed and dated “Mussooree, 1837” on the opening leaf and contained numerous drawings of Indian figures, animals, landscapes, academic studies, and copies after European works executed during Hutchinson’s service in India. The album reportedly remained intact until the twentieth century before being dispersed into individual sheets. Acquired from the UK art trade.