Lot Essay
The city of Lucknow was embellished with many grand buildings early in the reign of Shuja-ud-daulah, Nawab of Avadh (1753-75), before he moved his capital to Faizabad. His successor, Asaf-ud-daulah (1775-97) moved the capital back to Lucknow and began a new programme of building. It was at this stage that the Daniells visited the city. Returning from their tour in the Himalayan foothills, they spent the whole monsoon period of 1789 there, from early July until mid October, staying with General Claud Martin, the French adventurer who was in the service of the Nawab.
They made numerous views of the city, partly in an attempt to win the patronage of the Nawab, as other British artists had done before, notably Tilly Kettle and John Zoffany. On 8 July, General Martin presented them to the Nawab, and when he returned their visit on the following day they showed him their early aquatints of Calcutta. The Nawab encouragingly expressed interest in these and suggested that he might like a similar set depicting his own city. They duly set to work. When the Nawab called again, however, towards the end of their stay, on 7 September, and was shown the pictures of Lucknow, he declined to give any commission. This disappointment prompted the bitter comment, recorded in William's letter to his mother, that 'Mr D. has not been successful in his endeavour to make a fortune. All admired his work but little was received from those who expressed it' (Cotton, 1923, p.17). Eventually, the Daniells did make aquatints of some of their Lucknow views, not for the Nawab, but to include in volume III of Oriental Scenery; this view was the basis of no.5 (published 1 December 1801). It shows the entrance into the old palace, with the fish emblem of the Nawabs visible in the spandrels of the arch. The gate is of a vigorous design, especially by the standards of Lucknow, as the Daniells seemed to note:
'The plainness and simplicity of this edifice is more striking than the richness of its decorations; a circumstance seldom occurring in gateways belonging to Mahommedan princes' (Oriental Scenery).
They made numerous views of the city, partly in an attempt to win the patronage of the Nawab, as other British artists had done before, notably Tilly Kettle and John Zoffany. On 8 July, General Martin presented them to the Nawab, and when he returned their visit on the following day they showed him their early aquatints of Calcutta. The Nawab encouragingly expressed interest in these and suggested that he might like a similar set depicting his own city. They duly set to work. When the Nawab called again, however, towards the end of their stay, on 7 September, and was shown the pictures of Lucknow, he declined to give any commission. This disappointment prompted the bitter comment, recorded in William's letter to his mother, that 'Mr D. has not been successful in his endeavour to make a fortune. All admired his work but little was received from those who expressed it' (Cotton, 1923, p.17). Eventually, the Daniells did make aquatints of some of their Lucknow views, not for the Nawab, but to include in volume III of Oriental Scenery; this view was the basis of no.5 (published 1 December 1801). It shows the entrance into the old palace, with the fish emblem of the Nawabs visible in the spandrels of the arch. The gate is of a vigorous design, especially by the standards of Lucknow, as the Daniells seemed to note:
'The plainness and simplicity of this edifice is more striking than the richness of its decorations; a circumstance seldom occurring in gateways belonging to Mahommedan princes' (Oriental Scenery).