Lot 56

The Expedition to Garhwal During the hot weather of 1789, the Daniells made an expedition into the Himalayan foothills, to the state of Garhwal, situated in the north-western part of the modern state of Uttar Pradesh. Parts of this journey were very perilous because of the difficult roads, and much of the terrain was unknown to the British - the Daniells were in fact the first Europeans ever to visit Garhwal. Reflecting the uncertainties of the journey ahead, when they left Delhi on 6 March, they were accompanied by four British officers and a detachment of fifty Indian sepoys. On 25 March they reached Najibabad, which they were to use as a sort of base camp. 'It is a place of tolerable trade', they later wrote, 'chiefly carried on with the mountainous country in its vicinity, whence a variety of ores, gums, and spices are brought and disposed of in the bazars, of which there are several' (Oriental Scenery). Here they halted, to await permission to enter Garhwal itself from its Raja. During this waiting period they visited Hardwar, the pilgrimage city on the Ganges. They drew both the town and the surrounding countryside (lot 56); in one view of a waterfall near Hardwar, we see some of the sepoys in their military escort (lot 55). By 18 April, the Raja's permission had arrived and they were ready to proceed. Two of the British officers now dropped out - daunted, William supposed, by the prospect of the road ahead; so the Daniells set out with the remaining two, Captain Guthrie and Lieutenant Sturmer. Their next stop was Kotdwara (lot 57), where they equipped themselves for the remainder of their journey: '20 April: Spent most of the Day making Jampans &c for tomorrows march - part of the day washing our Sketches' (Journal). It seems curious that as the roads got more difficult they resorted to jampans - a kind of sedan-chair in which they were carried by coolies; and indeed they frequently had to get out and have the jampans carried empty. They followed the often steep and always rocky course of the Khoh River (lots 58, 59, 60, 61), passing through Dusa (lot 62), and finally arrived at Srinagar, the capital of Garhwal, on 27 April (lot 63). In the evening they were visited by the Raja, Pradhyumna Shah, and they presented him with a watch and two pistols. The next day they learned that the Raja was engaged in a struggle against his younger brother, the Raja of the neighbouring state of Kumaon, whose forces were expected in Srinagar at any moment. William claims to have displayed the most impressive sang-froid in the face of this alarming intelligence: 'they were given to understand that we had not the least fear of remaining where we were, which answer seemed to surprise them... After they left us Mr Sturmer, Un [cle] & self went to the Bridge of Ropes over the Ganges. In consequence of the aforesaid news the inhabitants of Sirinagur were crossing the River as Quick as possible - they crowded on the Bridge so fast that we thought at times it would have broke, taking their Chesebust, Cots etc. with them' (Journal). But the Daniells calmly sat down to draw the rope bridge and the fleeing populace (lot 64). This behaviour seemingly impressed the Raja, as on the following day (28th) he reappeared to ask for the British party's support against his brother. At this stage the British decided to withdraw, and on 30 April began their journey back to Najibabad. The great majority of the Daniells' images of India include buildings or ruins. This is a reflection both of their picturesque aesthetic and of an 18th Century conception of India as the scene of ancient civilizations. But in the foothills of the Himalayas they were presented with an opportunity to paint pure landscapes, and they seized it with fervour. The fourth volume of the series known generally as Oriental Scenery is actually entitled 'Twenty-Four Landscapes', and half of this is devoted to scenes in Garhwal. Three of the watercolours included here relate directly to these aquatints (published 1804-5). Stimulated as they were by the scenery, they lamented that images cannot fully communicate its splendour. In particular, Thomas wished he could have transcribed the effect of evening in the hills: 'a task which unhappily is not within the reach of his art, being the result of various concurring circumstances, and of undefinable and evanescent effects that the pencil cannot trace. The mild temperature of the atmosphere, opposed to the heats of the preceding hours, inflamed by fatigue: the murmuring of the passing streams: the majestic grandeur of the mountains, increased by the visionary effect of the twilight: and to these must be added a circumstance, if possible still further out of the reach of imitative art, and this was the myriad swarms of fire-flies, that seemed to fill the lower region of the air, and which uniting their numerous rays of phosphoric light, illuminated every object, and diffused a magical radiance equally beautiful and surprising: it seemed, in truth, to be a land of romance, and the proper residence of those fanciful beings, the fairies and genii, that appear so often in asiatic tales. But the delicious sensations produced by causes of such a nature can, by no effect of genius, be re-excited: they must be seen and felt to be conceived; purchased by toil and privation of every kind and, after all, they must be met with, and not sought: for pleasures that delight by surprise, vanish before anticipation' (Oriental Scenery).

Thomas Daniell, R.A. (1749-1840) and William Daniell, R.A. (1769-1837)

A distant View of Hardwar and the Ganges, Uttar Pradesh

Details

Thomas Daniell, R.A. (1749-1840) and William Daniell, R.A. (1769-1837)
A distant View of Hardwar and the Ganges, Uttar Pradesh
inscribed 'The HURDUWAR. The Encampment of Soliman Sheko. A.D.1758. Snowy Mountains- A Large Statue of a Cow is said to have/been placed here by the HINDOO'S./many there since. but thrown down/in the reign of AURUNGZEBE.' (on the artists' original mount, overmounted) and further inscribed and numbered 'N.71. Distant View of the Hurduwar' (on the reverse of the artists' original mount)
pencil and watercolour within a black-lined border, on the artist's original mount
14¾ x 21 1/8in. (37.4 x 53.6cm.)

Exhibited

Spink, 1974, no.10.

Lot Essay

In the letter to his mother, William refers to their visit to 'Hurdwar, above 30 miles from Nujeebabad, signifying the Gate of Heaven in the Hindoo language, where the Ganges rushes out of the hills and enters the plains of Hindustan' (Cotton, 1923, p.15.).

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