Essay:
A Many-tinted, Radiant Aurora : George Chinnery's Kitty Kirkpatrick
By V.Narayan Swami

Extract:

"...But what of the kids, Kitty and William? Kirkpatrick had them portrayed prior to their embarkation from Madras by our friend Chinnery. It would seem the portrait was done in Madras because the children sailed on 10 September 1805 and Kitty who was born in 1802 looks about three years old in the picture. Here is that portrait, a memorable on that Chinnery has left for us : This image has captivated me ever since I first saw it and looked up the background. Note how Chinnery lights up the children's faces, the sallow complexion of William and the auburn hair of Kitty who is portrayed in all the guileless innocence and serenity of a not quite three year old. Does Kity take after her mother ? At least that is what the portrait suggests.

As far as I know, but only as far as I know, the oil is in the possession of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank and long may it remain with them rather than end up in the possession of some private collector. After Kirkpatrick's death the picture remained for sometime with Khair-un-Nissa but then fell into the hands of Henry Russell, former under-secretary to Kirkpatrick and himself to become Resident at Hyderabad, though the circumstances relating to why Khair-un-Nissa let go of the painting remain a mystery. Dalrymple uses circumstantial evidence to suggest, strongly, that Russell developed an intimacy with Khair-un-Nissa after her husband died, that she, in fact, became Russell's mistress for a while. It is true that the Hyderabad aristocracy were also suspicious of the reported liaison and Khair-un-Nissa was, for a while, banished to Masulipatam on the coast. (Not that it is very relevant but I add here, form my collection, a dramatic and stunning visual of Masulipatam in about the 1750's drawn by Nicolas Bellin, the French cartographer) :
The case is not entirely convincing but, in fairness to Dalrymple, the only evidence one has to go by in such cases is circumstantial and there seems clearly to have been some sort of "understanding", if not intimacy, between the two. It is also said Chinnery had hijacked the painting for a while,in order to exhibit it, and Rusell was trying, on Khir-un-Nissa'sbehalf, recover it from the "borrower". Anyhow, the painting came inot Henry Russell's possession and, in his retirement, was hung in his country home, Swallowfield in Berkshire.

William and Kitty, meanwhile, had reached England under the care of a Mrs Ure and a retinue of "black" servants. As the baggage included shawls, jewelry and valuables worth 2000 Pounds, the help of Captain George Elers, a fellow passenger, was sought. Elers at once took matters in hand, a bribe of twenty guineas to the customs officials at Portsmouth was handed out and the treasure was cleared unopened. The children went to live with their grandfather, Col William Kirkpatrick, in Kent and were to undergo many an emotional privation. The Colonel may have been kindness itself but the kids missed their parents and India. Also, the Colonel did not allow any correspondence with their mother. Thus far, I have used my independent references for the story but I now have to, reluctantly, quote from Dalrymple who sources this from Edward Strachey's article on Kitty in the Blackwoods Magazine of 1893 : "in after years the daughter told her own children how long she and her brother had pined for the father and mother they remembered, and longed to get away from the cold of England to Hyderabad, and were sad at hearing that they were not to go there again, which was all they could understand of their father's death". Thus Strachey, paraphrasing Kitty."

Read more at V.Narayan Swami's blog 'Rabbiting On':

http://bit.ly/ydvmrx

Image:
George Chinnery (1774-1852), The Kirkpatrick children, Oil on canvas, 154.9 x 118.1 cm, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.