“Indian Snake Charmer, Bombay”

E F GREEN  

English School

Fl. 1824-1851

“Indian Snake Charmer, Bombay”  

Oil on canvas, signed, inscribed and dated 1847 on stretcher on reverse

63.5 x 76.2 cms

30 x 25 inches 

Exhibited:   British Institute 1849 no. 163

 E F Green was a painter of literary and exotic subjects, portraits and open-air genre scenes often on large canvases. The last of these tended to be set in actual views and was especially apparent in his Athens paintings.

He was based in various London addresses during his career but travelled extensively and it is believed that this was due in part to his having a duty with the Royal Navy and the Fleet at sea. Whilst in England he executed such works as “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Boy playing with a Dog” and “Admiral the Hon. Sir Robert Stopford, Commander in Chief of Her Majesty`s Forces in the Med”.

He exhibited 14 times at the Royal Academy, 21 at the British Institute and 20 at the Royal Society of British Artists in Suffolk Street. The titles of these indicate his extensive travels in Greece, Persia, India, Egypt and Italy. Some examples include: “View in the Town of Athens, Temple of the Winds in the distance”, “A Turkish Woman receiving Visitors at her Harem in Cairo”, “Portrait of Halil Bey, Son of Chiamel Bey, the last Turkish Governor of Corinth”, “Greeks taking Coffee in a Kiosk” and “Italian Flower Girl”.

 An edition of The Arabian Nights was also illustrated by him.  

Bibliography: Dictionary of British Landscape Painters – M H Grant

                       Dictionary of Victorian Painters – Christopher Wood