Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match

Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match, sometimes called Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Fight, is a painting by the German British artist Johann Zoffany. It records British colonial life in the Indian court of Asaf-Ud-Dowlah. The painting was completed in February 1788, four years after the event it records. The painting is part of the Tate Gallery collection. A recent cleaning has revealed the original colours and made more apparent what appears to be an erection visible on the Nawab of Oudh, the central figure. History Johann Zoffany was a German-born painter who had become a successful portrait painter in London. Among his principal patrons were the royal family. Queen Charlotte had sent Zoffany to Florence where he had agreed to paint the Tribuna of the Uffizi. The agreed price was high and he was paid £300 a year. Zoffany stayed seven years. On his return, he brought for Queen Charlotte the painting of The Tribuna of the Uffizi that included within the body of the Uffizi a number of British residents in Florence. The painting received a cool reception because it included people who were not considered appropriate or desirable. Against advice, Zoffany had included people such as Sir Horace Mann, 1st Baronet, British consul at Florence, and the painter Thomas Patch. Patch had been expelled from Rome for a homosexual act; at this time homosexuality was illegal in the eyes of both the church and the state. One figure who was thought acceptable was George Nassau Clavering-Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper, who is shown on the left of the painting contemplating the aesthetic virtues of the Niccolini-Cowper Madonna - which Zoffany eventually sold to him. Zoffany had to leave the country as all of his usual commissions were no longer forthcoming. He never again got a royal commission. He had hoped to sail with Captain Cook, but as a second choice he elected to make the long journey to Lucknow. His fellow painter, Ozias Humphrey, was already painting portraits of the wealthy employees of the British East India Company and of Indian princes. He may have told Zoffany of the opportunities available in Lucknow. In Lucknow, Zoffany met the main players at the court. The nominal head of the State of Oudh was Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, although the governor Warren Hastings was the British representative. He commanded the power of the British East India Company, and it was Hastings who commissioned the painting of the cockmatch by Zoffany.