William Daniell Lithographs
Art365 India
Size 5”x7”
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In the second half of the eighteenth century, a number of amateur and professional European artists visited India and recorded Indian life, architecture, costumes and landscapes. Until then people in England had no visual image of India based on artists first-hand observations. Of the great European artists working on the Indian sub-continent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Daniells, Thomas (1749-1840) and his nephew William (1769-1837) were perhaps the most outstanding.
Thomas Daniell and his nephew William Daniell played a prominent role in documenting the landscapes, building and peoples of the country. Their seven years tour of India from 1786 to 1793 and the subsequent publication of their work brought to the British public an unrivalled view of the scenes and architecture of this beautiful land. They set out from England in 1786 to make their fortune in India and in their six years long stay, ventured further than any British artist had done earlier. They took three tours across India: up the Ganga from Calcutta to Srinagar, 1788-91, a circular tour around Mysore from Madras, 1792-93, and finally on their return journey to England in 1793 visiting Bombay and its sites, sketching and drawing as they travelled.
Arriving back in London in 1794 the Daniells turned the substantial number of on-site sketches into finished water colours and oil paintings. From 1795 to 1808 they concentrated on producing aquatint prints for their views of India, a work they titled Oriental Scenery. The work was published in six volumes and comprised a total of 144 coloured aquatints and six uncoloured titled-pages. It was an artistic and commercial success. The cost of the complete set was Sterling 210. Thirty sets were sold to the East India Company, and a further order for eighteen copies was received. Thomas Sutton quotes a glowing tribute to the artistic work of the Daniells in an extract from The Calcutta Monthly Magazine. "the execution of these drawings is indeed masterly; there is every reason to confide in the fidelity of the representations; and the effect produced by this rich and splendid display of oriental scenery is truly striking. In looking at it, one may almost feel the warmth of an Indian sky, the water seems to be in actual motion and the animals, trees and plants are studies for the naturalist".