There he travelled widely: he was introduced to the nawab of Oudh by John Macpherson, the then governor-general, and also spent time in Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow and probably Delhi, where he may have painted the Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II.
However, by the time that Smith, Johann Zoffany and painters arrived in the country, the market was in a state of collapse and the successors to Hastings, including Macpherson, were less interested in promoting their efforts.
[4][6] William Baillie, a jealous contemporary of Smith who had tried and failed as a painter of the even more out-of-favour Indian landscapes, described the poor pickings sarcastically in a letter to Ozias Humphry, saying "What inducement has he to paint for money?
[1] The Analytical Review recorded Mr Charles Smith is a little angry at the damnation of his farce and, considering the terms of contempt in which it has been spoken of by some of the public prints, he is "inclined to hope, that by publishing it, no further loss of reputation can be sustained".
We are somewhat surprised that this "dramatic trifle" should have been visited so rudely, for it seems to us fraught with every requisite for receiving a tumultuous approbation: a Highlander talks broad Scotch, an Irishman makes plenty of bulls, and a city brewer's wife favours the audience with a specimen of the London dialect, all executed in the happiest style of extravagance and buffoonery.