For a giant-sized image of this painting : http://library.brown.edu/cds/catalog/getimage.php?image_id=1265307358573000.jp2

An important and previously unrecorded, contemporary eye-witness account of the Siege of Seringapatam and the death of Tipu Sultan, written by Captain Benjamin Sydenham (1777-1828) to George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, K.B., (1737–1806), written at Seringapatam on the 25th May 1799 manuscript on paper, in sepia ink, approximately 28 lines to the page, 24 pages, folded horizontally, loosely joined in top left corner with metal thread tag, some staining. Extract of the letter : ..."The description of the slain Tipu notes similar injuries to David Baird's report to Lieutenant-General Harris (quoted in Buddle, Rohatgi and Brown, 1999, p. 37); but is more detailed and closer to that of Major Allan (Beatson, 1800, Appendix No. XLII, pp. cxxvii-cxxxi), both in terms of the injuries sustained and the Sultan's clothing. Of the dead Sultan, Sydenham writes: "Tipu was wounded a little above the right ear, and the ball lodged in the left cheek, he had also 3 wounds in the body, he was in stature about 5'8" and not very fair, he was rather corpulent, had a short neck and high shoulders, but his wrists and ankles were most delicate. He had large full eyes with small arched eyebrows and very small whiskers, his appearance denoted him to be above the common stamp, and his Countenance expressed a mixture of haughtiness and resolution".

Death of Tippu The column that rounded the northwest corner of the outer wall was immediately involved in a serious fight with a group of Mysorean warriors under a short fat officer, which defended every traverse. The officer was observed to be discharging hunting weapons, loaded and passed to him by servants, at the British. After the fall of the city, in the gathering dusk, some of the British officers went to look for the body of Tippu Sultan. He was identified as the fat officer who had fired hunting weapons at the attackers, and his body was found in a choked tunnel-like passage near the Water Gate. Benjamin Sydenham described the body as: 'wounded a little above the right ear, and the ball lodged in the left cheek, he had also three wounds in the body, he was in stature about 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) and not very fair, he was rather corpulent, had a short neck and high shoulders, but his wrists and ankles were small and delicate. 'He had large full eyes, with small arched eyebrows and very small whiskers. His appearance denoted him to be above the Common Stamp. 'And his countenance expressed a mixture of haughtiness and resolution. He was dressed in a fine white linen jacket, chintz drawers, a crimson cloth round his waist with a red silk belt and pouch across his body. 'He had lastly his turband and there were no weapons of defence about him.' - Wiki