Table Of Content| (DER THE INDIAN SUN
BRITISH LANDSCAPE ARTISTS
UNDER THE INDIAN SUN
BRITISH LANDSCAPE ARTISTS
EDITED BY
PAULINE ROHATGI AND PHEROZA GODREJ
MARG PUBLICATIONS
XC), The British Library, London
THIS VOLUME
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO
DR MILDRED ARCHER
IN APPRECIATION OF HER PIONEERING WORK ON
BRITISH ARTISTS IN INDIA
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COPYRIGHT MARG PUBLICATIONS, 1995
ISBN: 81-85026-29.7
Library of Congress Catalog Card. Number: 95-901566
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION vi
PAULINE ROHATGI AND PHEROZA GODREJ
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY’S SETTLEMENT PICTURES
GEORGE LAMBERT AND SAMUEL SCOTT
BRIAN ALLEN
SKETCHING FROM NATURE
SOLDIER ARTISTS IN INDIA
17
PATRICIA KATTENHORN
PREFACE TO A LOST COLLECTION
THE PIONEERING ART OF FRANCIS SWAIN WARD 31
PAULINE ROHATGI
A FAIR PICTURE
Hopces AND THE DANIELLS AT RAJMAHAL
53
G. H. R. TILLOTSON
THE POET'S EYE
THE INTIMATE LANDSCAPE OF GEORGE CHINNERY 67
PATRICK CONNER
A CAREER IN ART
SIR CHARLES D’OYLY 81
J. P. LOSTY
FROM WATERCOLOUR TO PRINT
JAMES BAILLIE FRASER AND HIS VIEWS OF CALCUTTA 107
TOBY FALK
NATURE'S TALL SENTINELS
MOUNTAINSCAPES By BRITISH ARTISTS IN INDIA 121
PHEROZA GODREJ
CHARGED WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE EAST
‘WILLIAM SIMPSON 137
JENIFER GLYNN
APPARELL'’D IN CELESTIAL LIGHT
INDIAN PAINTINGS OF ALBERT GOODWIN 151
INDAR PASRICHA
INDEX 167
vi
INTRODUCTION
PAULINE ROHATGI AND PHEROZA GODREJ
By granting a royal charter to the East India Company in 1600, Queen Elizabeth I launched
the British connections with India that have flourished ever since. It was, however, only once
the three Presidency towns of Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta were established and life
became settled by about 1770, that professional British artists travelled to India in search of
commissions and in the hope of making a fortune with which to return home.
William Hodges, and especially the uncle and nephew partnership of Thomas and
William Daniell, are the best known of all British landscape artists to have worked in India.
The reason for their popularity is fairly clear. After returning and settling in London, they
became celebrated for their pictures of Indian scenery, depicted in the fashionable Picturesque
style of the latter eighteenth century, during their lifetime. Among their patrons were civilians
and military personnel who, having served in India, were keen to establish an English
country estate decorated with pictures of Indian scenes. The British at home were also
captivated by exotic tales of the Mughals, of princely kingdoms with domed palaces, glittering
mosques, and untold riches. ‘Their interest in Oriental culture increased as news of the East
India Company's exploits in India reached home. As the lifestyle of the British in India grew
more opulent, they also wanted pictures to adom their palatial bungalows. The reputations of
Hodges and the Daniells were greatly enhanced by their own engravings: Hodges’ Select
Views in India and the Daniells' Oriental Scenery. Through eyes conditioned by the Picturesque
vision, they portrayed the palaces, mosques, forts, temples, and scenery of India, thus
satisfying the public's thirst for images of an exotic country.
Besides Hodges and the Daniells, many other landscape artists produced pictures worthy
of study. The aim of this volume is to highlight some of them in an attempt to convey
something of this great pictorial wealth. The earliest pictures discussed date from about 1730,
with the peak of artistic activity taking place between 1780 and 1840. Even during the latter
nineteenth century, a number of landscape artists, such as William Simpson, George Landsecr,
and Edward Lear, were painting long after the a dvent of photography, while Albert Goodwin
was still painting scenes of India well into this century.
Although the East India Company never became a regular patron of the arts, the
Directors commissioned a set of six oil paintings of its chief settlements to hang in their Court
Room at East India House, London in about 1730. These pictures of Fort St George and Fort
William, Bombay, Tellicherry, the Cape of Good Hope, and St Helena were meant to
represent the extent of the Company's trading powers, rather than depict a topographically
accurate impression of each place. The artists George Lambert and Samuel Scott never visited
India. The article on them discusses the pictures in their contemporary stylistic context and as
part of a decorative scheme at East India House.
Besides professional artis t s there were a number of skilled amatcur artists among the
soldiers and civilians posted in India. Many cadets received instruction in survey drawing in
England and were recording topographical features of the Indian landscape, for maps and
official surveys, several decades before Hodges and the Daniells arrived in the country
Whereas many artists, including the Daniels, often used a camera obscura Gt box with a lens
which reflected the landscape image onto a sheet of paper for tracing such features ats
intricate architectural cletails, survey instruments would be used by the military for recordi
the lie of the land, Many soldiers also sketched for pleasure, and they frequently hud an ey
for detail which the professional artist, on the lookout for picturesque features, might
overlook, As a result, the value of their Work often fies in its topographical accuracy. The oil
