Coaduwar Ghat

British conceptions of a picturesque India owed much to the work of Thomas Daniell and his nephew who went to India in 1786. After seven years of journeyings, often far beyond the area under direct British rule, they brought back some 1,400 drawings of buildings or landscapes. Between 1795 and 1808 the Daniells brought out six sumptuous volumes of aquatints, a process of making engravings that reproduced the qualities of watercolours. Their aquatints were much admired. To the great painter J.M.W. Turner, through them 'The east is as clearly reflected as the moon in a lake.'

Art | Art and Empire | Portraying India | Portraying India Gallery