Maj. Gen. Claude Martin of the Honourable East India Company Service (HEICS) was born at Lyon, France in 1735. He died in Lucknow, India on 13 September, 1800.

George Duncan Beechey, was the son of the English painter, Sir William Beechey and a godson of King George III. He served as the Court Painter to the last four Kings of Oudh and married the 3rd King's daughter. The portrait was sanctioned by the Local Committee of Governors for the College in 1852

M. Chaterjee version - The likeness of Maj. Gen. Claude Martin is based on the portrait of the Founder, painted during his lifetime by Francesco Renaldi. In 1966, local artist M. Chatterji was commissioned to copy the Renaldi portrait for the sum of Rs 250/-. This has since been displayed in the College Auditorium, Spence Hall.

"Resolution 63/66 Sanction was accorded for the payment of Rs 250/- for an oil painting of Major-General Claude Martin by a local artist, Mr Chatterji, and of Rs 100/- for the renovation and retouching of the old black and white print of the painting by Zoffany of Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Fight."