The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultan

Henry Singleton's The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultan of around 1800 depicts the death of Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore, at the siege of Seringapatam in May 1799 — one of the defining moments of British imperial expansion in India and a subject that generated an enormous wave of British art and literature in the following years. Tipu Sultan had been one of the most formidable opponents of British power in India, allying with France and fighting four wars against the East India Company. His death at Seringapatam, fighting to the last, was celebrated as a great British victory and simultaneously invested with the Romantic admiration for a brave enemy. Singleton was a prolific history painter who produced several versions of Seringapatam subjects for the commercial market that the victory created. The painting participates in the complex British visual culture of imperial conquest.

Singleton depicts the final moments of Tipu Sultan in battle with the dramatic energy the subject demanded, organizing the chaotic melee around the falling figure of the sultan. British soldiers and Indian defenders are rendered with the compositional clarity of history painting despite the subject's violence. The warm Indian light and the architectural setting of the fortress gate provide atmospheric context.