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36 years old Thomas Daniell
and his nephew William, a lad of sixteen, sailed out from Gravesend
in April 1785, destined for the East where they were to spend
the next eight years. Of humble origins, they arrived in Calcutta
via China early in seventeen eighty-six, looking for wealthy
patrons, and to explore the sublime, the exotic and the picturesque
country. Their spirit was symptomatic of the first stirring of
the romantic movement of the time.
Some of the earliest glimpses of the city of Calcutta - its many
new paladian building, roads and river ghats, temple and churches,
and forms of transport old and new- are captured in Thomas Daniell's
twelve coloured aquatints, Views of Calcutta. " The Lord
be praised at length, I have completed my twelve views. The fatigue
I have experienced... has almost worn me out. I am advised to
make a trip of up the country...", wrote Thomas in November
1788.
A tour of India was a formidable undertaking in those days, but
the two Daniells were undaunted. They covered the length and
breadth of India in palanquins and bullock carts, on horseback,
on foot and on boat, painting Oriental Scenery wherever they
went.
The Daniells' magnificent
views of Indian landscapes and antiquities in both oils and aquatint
made an immediate impact on the British elite. Stylistically
correct and conventional as they were, their magnitude and novelty
charmed the romantically inclined for whom the Graeco-Roman culture
was effete. Motifs were freely borrowed from Oriental Scenery
to decorate wallpapers and ceramics, while the flamboyant domes
and minarets of the Royal Pavilion extravaganza at Brighton were
directly inspired by the Daniells' accurate depiction of Indian
architecture. On the whole, their Oriental Scenery largely contributed
to the British image of India as a land of romance and glory.
Indeed, the Daniells have continued to feed the Raj nostalgia
to this day.
The Victoria Memorial has
the largest collection of the works by the two Daniells. |