A Kingfisher (alcedo atthis),Calcutta, India, c.1830,

gouache on paper, pencil inscription in urdu. The small blue kingfisher is found throughout the subcontinent. For further information, see Salim Ali, The Book of Indian Birds, Bombay, 1972, p.72. Paintings of natural history subjects are particularly associated with Calcutta, a tradition which owes much to the patronage of Sir Elijah and Lady Impey in the eighteenth century. Lord Wellesley's foundation of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens in 1786, led to even more such paintings being commissioned. See Mildred Archer, Company Paintings, London, 1992, no.78, for four closely related paintings