Under the Indian sun: British landscape artists PDF
Preview Under the Indian sun: British landscape artists
| (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 General Editor PRATAPADITYA PAL Senior Editorial Exec SAVITA CHANDIRAMANL Editorial Executive LK. MEHTA Copy Editor (Consultant) MEHER MAREATIA Designer BEHROZE J. BILIMORIA Production Manager and Deputy Designer SUBHASH MANE Design Assistant VARSHA SACHIN VAGAL Executive Manager — Finance K.P. S. NAMBIAR Price: Rs, 1350.00 (US $ 54.00) COPYRIGHT MARG PUBLICATIONS, 1995 ISBN: 81-85026-29.7 Library of Congress Catalog Card. Number: 95-901566 No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form of by any: means, ‘without the prior written permission of the copyright holders. ‘This edition may be exported from India only by the publishers, Marg Publications, and by their authorized distributors and this constitutes a condition of its initial sale and its subsequent sales Published by J. J. Bhabha for Marg Publications at 24, HomiS M Colour separation by Comar Libographers Private Limited, Bombay 400 02 Black and white proce Tata Press Limited, Bombay Printedb y A. 8. Vad L 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
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