Purniya, Chief Minister of Mysore

Thomas Hickey, 1741–1824

ca. 1801

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

A man in ornate clothing and a turban stands in a room with classical architecture, holding a scroll and resting his hand on a book. The Irish-born Thomas Hickey worked as a portrait painter in Dublin, Rome, and Bath before moving to India in 1784. Competition from Johan Zoffany harmed his business, and he left India in 1791. He was soon traveling to China but returned to India in 1798 at a time when the East India Company was concluding its campaigns against Tipu, the French-backed Sultan of Mysore, to assert its complete control over the subcontinent. Purniya, a Brahmin, was Tipu’s most trusted minister. After Tipu was killed and his kingdom conquered in 1799, the British appointed Purniya the first Dewan (effectively the Regent) of Mysore while the puppet raja