7173

Risaldar Jagat Singh and Risaldar Man Singh 1916

Head and shoulders, figure on the left in three-quarter profile to the right and looking to the viewer, the figure on the right full face to the viewer

Oil on board, 90.2 x 69.9 cm (35 ½ x 27 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right:  P. A. de László / 1916. May 1   

Sitters’ Book II, f. 5: Rasaldar Jagat Singh. 12th Cavalry / Rasaidar Man Singh 21st Cavalry

Private Collection

A number of Indian Cavalry officers visited de László’s London studio in May 1916. It was noted in A Brush with Grandeur that the visit might have been in order to view his portrait of an Indian prince [5725], though as it was painted ten years previously this seems unlikely.^[1] De László succeeded in having two of the officers pose for him and the present picture was completed for the artist’s own pleasure and remained in his collection until his death.^[2] This picture was greatly admired by Austen Chamberlain, then Secretary of State for India, and he asked de László to produce a small version for a Red Cross sale being organised by Lady Willingdon [7755], the wife of the Viceroy, in Bombay. De László opted instead to paint a one-sitting sketch of another Indian officer for the nominal fee of 50 guineas, which was then raffled for £650 [1833].  

This sensitive portrait is one of the best that de László painted of officers and soldiers before their departure for the front. In a short sitting of 2-3 hours the artist has captured the solemn dignity of these two professional soldiers and as a double portrait it is unique among his First World War portraits. It is not known why these men were on leave from their respective regiments, who were stationed in France at the time of the sitting. Amongst the trenches and wire of the front line there was little use for cavalry in its usual role and much of their war was spent waiting to take part in the action without actually being deployed. Both regiments eventually used their men in trench warfare and particularly at the Battle of the Somme, which began 1 July 1916, two months after this portrait was painted.

There are various spellings of the Indian ranks, but in the contemporary Indian Army Lists Risaldar and Ressaidar are used. Risaldar is the Indian cavalry equivalent of a Subadar and both are roughly equal in rank to a British Captain. Ressaidar is a slightly lower rank and was abolished in 1921, with all Ressaidars becoming Risaldars. During the First World War there were many temporary promotions and transfers, so both men seem to have been given an acting rank that is not the same as in the Indian Army Lists, though this was not unusual.

Risaldar Jagat Singh joined the Indian Army 26 February 1905 as a Jemadar (junior Indian officer) in the 12th Cavalry and was promoted to Ressaidar 11 April 1916 in the 18th King George's Own Lancers. He was subsequently promoted Risaldar 11 August 1918 when he is listed in the 12th Cavalry but still attached to the 18th. It is likely that he was acting at that rank in 1916 when the portrait was painted, or he inadvertently gave himself the wrong rank, when signing the artist’s Sitters’ Book.

Ressaidar Man Singh joined the Indian Army 1 March 1890 as a Sowar (a cavalry trooper). He was promoted to Jemadar 1 May 1910 in the 21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry before further promotion to Ressaidar 11 April 1916 in the 20th Deccan Horse. He is not listed after 1917, though his name is not among the dead in the Indian Army Lists. The sitter is also known to have been awarded the Indian Order of Merit 3rd Class, 3 November 1894 for his gallantry in the Warziristan Action at Wano, the north-west frontier of India.

PROVENANCE:  

In the possession of the artist on his death

EXHIBITED:  

•Grosvenor Gallery, London, The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers Autumn Exhibition, Autumn 1916, no. 68

•Nemzeti Szalon, Budapest, Céhbeliek [Guild Members], 1924, no. 137, ill.

•Royal West of England Academy, 88th Annual Exhibition, November 1933 - February 1934, catalogue no. 172

•Christie’s, King Street, London. A Brush with Grandeur, 6-22 January, 2004, no. 70

•The Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, Empire Faith & War: The Sikhs and World War One, 9 July-28 September 2014

•Tate Britain, London, Artist and Empire, 25 November 2015-6 April 2016

LITERATURE:

•Baldry, A. L., “Recent Portraits by Mr. P. A. de László,” The Studio, August 1916, pp. 145-156, ill. p.156

•The Sphere, Christmas Number, 26 November 1917, p. 9, ill.

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 306,

•Clifford, Derek, The Paintings of P. A. de Laszlo, London, 1969, monochrome ill. pl. 34                

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 150

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, p. 25, ill.

•Field, Katherine, with essays by Sandra de Laszlo and Richard Ormond, Philip de László: Master of Elegance,

Blackmore, 2024, p. 92, pp. 11, 93, ill.

We are grateful to Pip Dodd, Curator at the National Army Museum, London for his assistance with this entry

KF 2012