John GriffithsBritish, 1837–1918Ali the fisherman
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Ali the fisherman” now? Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Not on view at present. Checked September 25, 2026.
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
John Griffiths was born in 1837. He studied at the Royal College of Art and then worked under Godfrey Sykes on the decorative work for the South Kensington Museum. One of his fellow assistants was John Lockwood Kipling, who became a life-long friend, and he was godfather to Kipling's son, Rudyard. The two of them were persuaded to go out to India on a three-year assignment, and in 1865 they sailed for Bombay, where they worked together for ten years at the Bombay School of Art. Griffiths undertook many commissions, including work on the Victoria Terminus and the High Court. After his decade in Bombay, Griffiths was appointed Principal of the Mayo School of Art and Curator of the Museum in Lahore, now in Pakistan, where, on an earlier visit, he had painted this portrait of one of the local inhabitants. After his retirement in 1895, Griffiths lived firstly in Wales and then near Sherbourne in Dorset. He died in 1918.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Details
- Accession number
- IM.346-1910
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
