BIHT Lecture: Wednesday 28 October 2026, 17:00-19:30
Valerie Haye, of the BIHT (British in India Historical Trust), has supplied the following details of a lecture on Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) being given on Wednesday 28 October by Charles Greig:
WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2026, 17.00–19.30
Zoffany in India
Speaker: Charles Greig
East India Club, 16 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LH
‘Johan Zoffany spent five years in India in the 1780s, creating some of the finest paintings of the country. Formerly a court painter to King George, he quickly established himself in Calcutta under the patronage of the European elite. He later travelled to Lucknow, where the nawab’s court and its cosmopolitan European community provided a wealth of commissions. His extended stays there inspired works that capture Lucknow’s distinctive blend of European and Indian elite culture, most notably Colonel Mordaunt’s Cock Match, arguably the masterpiece of Anglo-Indian painting.
The talk will explore Zoffany’s years in India, examining his greatest paintings alongside previously unknown works identified by the speaker.
Charles Greig is a consultant and scholar specialising in Anglo-Indian and Company art. In the early 1990s he was appointed art historical advisor to the Calcutta Tercentenary Trust and surveyed the vast collection of the Victoria Memorial Hall. In 2010 and 2011 he undertook two journeys in India, retracing Zoffany’s footsteps, which he recorded in an essay in Johan Zoffany RA: Society Observed, the catalogue accompanying the major Zoffany retrospective at Yale and the Royal Academy. He wrote most of the catalogue’s Indian entries and has contributed to numerous publications on European painters in India.
The lecture will be preceded by drinks from 5pm in the East India Room, where drinks can be purchased from the pay bar. The lecture will take place in the Clive Room at 6pm. For those who would like to stay, an optional two-course meal (main course, dessert and coffee) will follow at 7.30pm in the East India Room. A complimentary glass of wine with your meal will be provided by courtesy of Indus Experiences. All welcome.
Dress code: jacket and tie (men); dress or smart separates (women).
Dietary requirements accommodated where notified.
Tickets for the lecture cost £22.50, and for the lecture and meal £68.50.
Click here to purchase tickets (or book a place on the waitlist)’.
Valerie Haye, British in India Historical Trust
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