C.J. Martin (fl.1843-1853)
View in Calcutta
signed and dated 'C.J.MARTIN. / 1853.' (lower right), inscribed 'J. W. Linzee View of...' on the stretcher
oil on canvas
15³⁄₄ x 25¹⁄₂ in. (40 x 64.7 cm.)
Four views of Calcutta painted by Martin for Linzee suggest the artist may have been in the employ of John W. Linzee, a Boston-born American supercargo who was lived on Mangoe Lane, just North of the Maidan in Calcutta in the 1850s and 1860s. The views, including the present canvas, are all of similar size, and may have been part of a suite of works painted for Linzee. Of the other three, two are in the Peabody Museum of Salem, Massachusetts, one inscribed 'Painted by C.J. Martin for John W. Linzee, Calcutta, June 1852' and the other 'C.J. Martin, N.Y., 1853' (for which see M.V. and D. Brewington, The Marine Paintings and Drawings in the Peabody Museum Revised Edition, Salem, 1981, pp.196-97, nos 897 and 898), and the third 'painted for John W. Linzee' was sold in these rooms, 10 June 1997, lot 89 ('Shipping on the Hooghly River', 1852). Linzee filed for insolvency in 1861, which may have been the reason for his return to Massachusetts.

C.J. Martin is thought to have been an American artist, whose few surviving works see him active in Rio de Janeiro c.1848-51 and in India in 1852-53.

John William Linzee (1821-1915), Calcutta (according to the inscription on the stretcher).

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