Sacred tank and pagodas near Benares

Details

Lt. Colonel Charles Ramus Forrest (fl. 1802-27)
Sacred tank and pagodas near Benares
pencil and watercolour, unframed
9 x 13¼ in. (22.9 x 33.6 cm.); sold with a copy of the engraving after the watercolour (2)

Provenance

with Spencer's Fine Art Auctioneers, Bridlington, where purchased for the present collection.

Exhibited

India Observed, nos 49 and 50 respectively.

Engraved

T. Sutherland, engraved, A Picturesque Tour along the Rivers Ganges and Jumna', London, R. Ackermann, 1824, pl. 23.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Forrest served with the 3rd East Kent Regiment ('The Buffs') from 1802-14, and then with the Cumberland Regiment of Foot. This watercolour, which has been dated circa 1808, belongs to a series that were engraved and published as A Picturesque Tour along the River Ganges and Jumna in 1824. The aquatint boasts figures and more detailed foliage, demonstrating the artistic liberties taken by a professional engraver when copying a watercolour.

Forrest wrote in his introduction to the series that the composition 'Gives an idea of the grandeur and solemn beauty of this scene', 'the extensive and noble tank' being its central attraction.

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