General Jean-Baptiste Ventura (1794-1858), 1845 (c)

Miniature portrait in watercolour on ivory, by a Company artist, Lahore, India, 1845 (c).

Jean-Baptiste Ventura was an Italian mercenary who served with Napoleon Bonaparte's Imperial army until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. He then served the Shah of Persia before being employed by the Maharaja Ranjit Singh in India. Ventura fought with the Sikh Army against Afghan forces at Nowshera in 1823. Ventura was one of a group of European officers who modernised the Sikh Army along Western lines but he left the Punjab before war broke out between Sikh and British forces.