The Death of Colonel Moorhouse at the Storming of the Pettah Gate of Bangalore

The artist, a pupil of Angelica Kauffmann, accompanied Cornwallis on his campaign against Tippoo Sultan, 'The Tiger of Mysore'. When Joseph Moorhouse was killed, his brother officers invited Home to record the event with a painting 'in the size and manner of General Wolfe', a reference to Benjamin West's 'Death of Wolfe'. Home's sketches of some of these officers and men are preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Like the oil painting, they show acute attention to the details of uniforms, especially those of the flank companies of the 36th Foot. The artist spent much of his adult life in India, where he became Court Painter to the King of Oudh and where most of his larger oils were painted and remained after partition.