by Moira Fulton (YGS Committee Member)
Portrait of Captain John Foote, 1765
by Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)
Oil on canvas YORAG : 216
Purchased with the assistance of a grant from the National Art Collections Fund, 1950
Image courtesy of York Museums Trust: https://yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk Public Domain
I expect many of you will know this portrait which has been in York Art Gallery for over 70
years, but probably fewer will have seen the actual robe Captain Foote is wearing in the
painting. Remarkably, the Gallery also owns the costume, which is rarely on display. Indeed
2012 saw its last appearance in York. As the only Reynolds in the Collection, the portrait is
normally on view, although there are occasional absences. Both it and the robe have been
lent to exhibitions in London, Milan, Stuttgart, Singapore and most recently, Mumbai.
Captain John Foote (1718-1768) was an early friend and neighbour of Reynolds, from shared
Devon days. As a Captain in the service of the East India Company, it was probably on one of
Foote’s voyages to Bengal that he purchased – or was given – the expensive robe, known as
a Jama, that he chose to wear for this portrait. He must have regarded the outfit as
important, because it was carefully preserved by relatives after his death. Both the costume and portrait remained in family ownership until at least 1929. A further sale took place in
1950, when Hans Hess (Curator of York Art Gallery), negotiated their purchase for £350. A
grant of £200 from the National Art Collection Fund (now the Art Fund), covered most of the
cost.
The Capture of Chandernagore, March 1757 (1771)
by Dominic Serres (1722-1793)
Oil on canvas BHC0378 (Greenwich Hospital Collection)
Image courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich London
The Salisbury is shown on the right, firing on Chandernagore - administrative centre of the
East India Company – in a battle of the Seven Years War between England and France. Four
years earlier, in 1753, the ship went under Foote’s command, but 1757 saw him become
Captain of the Latham.
Foote sat for Reynolds five times in 1761, and a further session followed in 1765. The
number of sittings suggests that Reynolds took a great interest in the painting: indeed he is
recorded as stating it to be among his favourites. However, the picture was not exhibited in
public until 1877, or engraved until 1878.
Robe back view
Muslin embroidered with silk, YORAG : 2003.4.a-c
Image courtesy of York Museums Trust: https://yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk Public Domain
CC BY-SA 4.0
Reynolds chose to show the Captain standing in front of a heavily draped curtain, with the
left hand side of his face in shadow: the background is non-specific. Chiefly the artist seems
interested in painting the sitter’s exotic dress, rather than focusing on his (admittedly rather
undistinguished) features. Instead, Reynolds relies on the costume to give the portrait an
imposing air.
The Jama was an expensive courtly coat, a garment introduced to north India by the
Moghuls, and normally worn by princes. Captain Foote’s robe is made of the finest muslin
embroidered with floral motifs in gold, yellow and green silk. When examined by a curator
in 2012, it was reported to be in very good condition, showing little sign of wear. The Gallery
also possesses the embroidered sash or Patka, but not the intricately folded turban.
Meanwhile a shawl in the Collection, though contemporary with the robe, is not the actual
one shown in the portrait. It has been suggested that these costly garments could have been
given to the Captain by a ruler.
Robe back view
Muslin embroidered with silk, YORAG : 2003.4.a-c
Image courtesy of York Museums Trust: https://yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk Public Domain
CC BY-SA 4.0
Today the main interest in the portrait is to examine what the Captain’s choice of being
painted in such a striking and unusual dress might signify? How should the wearing of Indian
clothing by an Englishman be regarded in a post-colonial age? Some recent commentators
see the pose as claiming authority; and by cultural appropriation of Indian dress, even
showing disdain for the creators. Most recent remarks on the painting are influenced by
criticism of British rule over India and academic colonial discourse. Captain Foote is said to
be standing in an assertive and arrogant pose, projecting wealth and authority, a representative of the wrongs of Empire.
However, all judgements are subjective, and it is difficult to take a detached view. It could
be that Captain Foote wanted to be portrayed in Indian dress as a memento of his time in
India. Perhaps, too, Foote had in mind that Reynolds would be more interested in painting
his portrait if he wore such an ‘exotic’ costume.
Further reading:
An article, Reading decoloniality in the portrait of Captain John Foote by Joshua Reynolds, c.1765 by Kuhu Kopariha can be found here on the York Art Gallery website.
A YGS Event for your Diary
11 January 2025, 2.30pm-4pm
Dr Ruby Rutter
Emotional Labour, Elite Women, and the Eighteenth-Century Country House
A lecture at The York Medical Society Rooms, 23 Stonegate, York, YO1 8AW
Nostell Priory
by Alexander Francis Lydon (1836-1917)
from Reverend Francis Orpen Morris, ‘A Series of Picturesque Views of the Seats of Noblemen and
Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland’
published by William Mackenzie, London, 1880
In the 1760s, Sabine Winn (1734-1798) wrote to her husband, explaining that it was ‘not in
my power to get used to this life’, when describing her difficulty adjusting to the duties and
expectations placed upon her as mistress of Nostell Priory, near Wakefield. Sabine was
Swiss-French, spoke little English, and had next to no experience of running a household.
The pressure she felt to embody ideal elite femininity and domesticity dramatically affected
her wellbeing and mental health. This talk discusses the emotional labour experienced by
elite women in their role as mistress of the eighteenth-century country house, and
examines how their pursuit of domestic perfection often incurred painful and damaging
consequences.
An External Event
21 February 2025, 10am – 7.30pm
Victorian Expansions
A Conference at The University of York (Heslington Campus)
Imperial Federation Map of the World Showing the Extent of the British Empire in 1886
by Walter Crane (1845-1915)
Image courtesy of Cornell University – PJ Mode Collection of Persuasive Cartography
Organised by the Department of English and Related Literature in collaboration with the
Department of History of Art, the Centre for Modern Studies, and the Centre for Eighteenth-
Century Studies at York, the conference brings together a range of exciting papers by senior
academics, creative writers, and postgraduate researchers, aimed at expanding the
geographical, chronological, and disciplinary boundaries associated with the Victorian
period (1837 to 1901). The programme features a reading by Professor Malachi McIntosh
(University of Oxford) from his contribution to the Colonial Countryside project (Peepal Tree
Press, 2024), and a keynote lecture by Professor Tim Barringer (Yale University) on art and
music in Victorian and Edwardian India and Britain.
Please note that the general registration fee (faculty, academic Fellows, and members of the
public) is £20 (coffee included). Registration and attendance is free for students.
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