Robert Smith (1792-1882) was born in Dublin, though his family lived in Dirleton, Haddingtonshire, Scotland. In 1809 he joined the 44th (East Sussex) regiment as an ensign and served until his retirement in 1833. He became lieutenant in 1811 and captain in 1825, serving in Italy and Sicily from 1809 to 1812. From about 1813 to 1815 he was in the USA, where he was wounded in New Orleans. In 1817 he married Mary Elizabeth Soden, by whom he had two daughters and a son, Robert Henry Soden Smith, who became Keeper of the Art Library at South Kensington (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum). During Robert Smith's second visit to India, he travelled from Calcutta to join his regiment, which was stationed in Cawnpore (Kanpur). An amateur artist, he made a series of pencil drawings and watercolour vignettes that later formed part of his unpublished two-volume 'Pictorial Journal of Travels in Hindustan from 1828 to 1833'. This drawing depicts a group of five musicians entertaining guests at a nautch (party) in Kanpur (Cawnpoor).
