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Lot Essay
This remarkably rare watercolour by a Calcutta school artist was executed between 1790 and 1800. It is an example of early Calcutta school and a fascinating illustration of the influence that western artists had on the Indian painters of the time.
In the 'watercolour' style of Company painting, influenced by English watercolour artists, the palette is more muted than that of some Indian artists who maintained the intense colours of their Mughal training. The anatomy and attention to the detail of the bodies is unusually defined in this watercolour and shows the influence of the artist Balthazar Solvyns (1760-1824). His publication The Manners, Customs and Dresses of the Hindoos, published in 1799 was highly copied by Indian artists and stongly influenced their understanding of western depiction of the human body and of perspective. The recession of the crowd scene is also very well executed and quite distinct from Mughal crowd scenes. The artist might have been familiar with the work of Thomas Daniell, R.A. and may have seen his aquatint for Views of Calcutta, 1788, no. 11, which depicts the Old Government House from the south-east with a large crowd scene beneath the walls.
During the Dasehra (or Dussera) festival, shrines to Durga are made by all the various groups in a city and the groups compete to produce the most lavish shrine. The shrines are then processed through the city and down to the river, accompanied by musicians and bearers of lanterns. In the present watercolour the various shrines are seen carried down to the Hooghly where they will be cast into the river.
The flag on the shipping is the pre-1801 union flag that changed after the Act of Union of Ireland with England, Wales and Scotland on 1 January that year.
A view of the Old Fort Ghaut and the west view of the Fort from the river, showing the exact corner depicted in the present watercolour can be found in another of Daniell's Calcutta aquatints, pl. 6 (see J. Losty, Calcutta City of Palaces, London, 1990, p. 55, fig. 26).
We are grateful to Jerry Losty curator of the India Office Library for his help preparing this catalogue entry.
In the 'watercolour' style of Company painting, influenced by English watercolour artists, the palette is more muted than that of some Indian artists who maintained the intense colours of their Mughal training. The anatomy and attention to the detail of the bodies is unusually defined in this watercolour and shows the influence of the artist Balthazar Solvyns (1760-1824). His publication The Manners, Customs and Dresses of the Hindoos, published in 1799 was highly copied by Indian artists and stongly influenced their understanding of western depiction of the human body and of perspective. The recession of the crowd scene is also very well executed and quite distinct from Mughal crowd scenes. The artist might have been familiar with the work of Thomas Daniell, R.A. and may have seen his aquatint for Views of Calcutta, 1788, no. 11, which depicts the Old Government House from the south-east with a large crowd scene beneath the walls.
During the Dasehra (or Dussera) festival, shrines to Durga are made by all the various groups in a city and the groups compete to produce the most lavish shrine. The shrines are then processed through the city and down to the river, accompanied by musicians and bearers of lanterns. In the present watercolour the various shrines are seen carried down to the Hooghly where they will be cast into the river.
The flag on the shipping is the pre-1801 union flag that changed after the Act of Union of Ireland with England, Wales and Scotland on 1 January that year.
A view of the Old Fort Ghaut and the west view of the Fort from the river, showing the exact corner depicted in the present watercolour can be found in another of Daniell's Calcutta aquatints, pl. 6 (see J. Losty, Calcutta City of Palaces, London, 1990, p. 55, fig. 26).
We are grateful to Jerry Losty curator of the India Office Library for his help preparing this catalogue entry.