2-982-385 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Statue of Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, to be placed in the Townhall of Calcutta, 1858. Engraving from a photograph by Messrs, Caldesi and Montocchi, of '...a memorial of the gratitude of the inhabitants and English merchants for the munificence with which that distinguished philanthropist has contributed to the various charities of that city, and also as a recognition of his services in the furtherance of education in India...Looking at the statue itself - though we candidly confess we could have wished that, being a national work, it had come from the hands of a native instead of a foreign artist - we must admit that it has been very fairly treated by the fortunate Baron [Carlo Marochetti], displaying in an eminent degree those qualities unfortunately too rarely met with in modern portrait sculpture - character, dignity, and poetic purpose. Wrapped in a loose robe, bordered with rich fringe, and wearing an Oriental head-dress, the figure sits in an easy attitude in a chair of state...The likeness, we believe, we may pronounce to be a most satisfactory one, and the expression is a mixture of Oriental gravity with the benignity and high intellectual purpose so happily displayed in the person of the truly illustrious original'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.