Lot Essay
India's most famous building, and the acme of the Indo-Islamic tomb tradition, was built on the orders of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife Arjumand Banu Begam, known as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631. It is here seen from the north, across the River Jumna - not inappropriately, since the river served as a major thoroughfare in Mughal Agra, so that to many at that time this was the building's characteristic appearance. Sharing its podium are two red sandstone buildings: the mosque to the right, and its jawab or 'echo' on the left. A sense of scale is provided by the traffic on the river, and figures in the foreground.
The Daniells visited Agra in January 1789. The city was then in the hands of the Marathas and the surrounding region was dangerously turbulent. The Daniells arrived in the company of a military escort: they had travelled overland from Kanpur to Fatehgarh in order to take the opportunity of joining a small British detachment bound for Agra. They arrived on 20 January and pitched their tents near this spot opposite the Taj Mahal, and the Daniells spent the rest of the day drawing it from here. This remained one of their favourite views of the monument since the river 'not only adds to its majesty, but, by reflection, multiplies its splendour'. They had heard and repeated the common (though almost certainly erroneous) idea that Shah Jahan had intended to build his own tomb on this side of the river; Shah Jahan is, of course, buried inside the Taj Mahal, next to his wife.
The day after their arrival, they crossed the river to examine the building at closer hand. 'Un [cle] drew the View from the Garden in the Camera - myself employed on the inside. In the evening went upon the Dome' (Journal). They were no less moved and delighted than almost every other visitor to this remarkable structure:
'Upon entering this earthly receptacle of regal dust... reflections on the vanity of all earthly grandeur almost instantly absorb the mind, in spite of the splendours that everywhere attract and dazzle the astonished beholder' (The Oriental Annual, 1834, p.196).
In 1801, the Daniells published two enormous aquatints of the Taj Mahal (each nearly three feet long, they were too large to be included in Oriental Scenery and, with their accompanying booklet of text, form a series of their own). One shows the tomb from the garden; the other is based on this watercolour. They also each painted an oil of this view. Thomas', painted in 1791, is very close in composition to the watercolour (see Shellim, 1979, TD19). William's later work, of 1829, shows a similar view but has a much busier foreground, with a fantastic cavalcade marching along the near river bank, and an imperial barge in mid-stream (see Shellim, 1979, WD17). Both these oil paintings are now in the Victoria Memorial Hall in Calcutta. An engraving of the same view was included in The Oriental Annual of 1834.
The Daniells visited Agra in January 1789. The city was then in the hands of the Marathas and the surrounding region was dangerously turbulent. The Daniells arrived in the company of a military escort: they had travelled overland from Kanpur to Fatehgarh in order to take the opportunity of joining a small British detachment bound for Agra. They arrived on 20 January and pitched their tents near this spot opposite the Taj Mahal, and the Daniells spent the rest of the day drawing it from here. This remained one of their favourite views of the monument since the river 'not only adds to its majesty, but, by reflection, multiplies its splendour'. They had heard and repeated the common (though almost certainly erroneous) idea that Shah Jahan had intended to build his own tomb on this side of the river; Shah Jahan is, of course, buried inside the Taj Mahal, next to his wife.
The day after their arrival, they crossed the river to examine the building at closer hand. 'Un [cle] drew the View from the Garden in the Camera - myself employed on the inside. In the evening went upon the Dome' (Journal). They were no less moved and delighted than almost every other visitor to this remarkable structure:
'Upon entering this earthly receptacle of regal dust... reflections on the vanity of all earthly grandeur almost instantly absorb the mind, in spite of the splendours that everywhere attract and dazzle the astonished beholder' (The Oriental Annual, 1834, p.196).
In 1801, the Daniells published two enormous aquatints of the Taj Mahal (each nearly three feet long, they were too large to be included in Oriental Scenery and, with their accompanying booklet of text, form a series of their own). One shows the tomb from the garden; the other is based on this watercolour. They also each painted an oil of this view. Thomas', painted in 1791, is very close in composition to the watercolour (see Shellim, 1979, TD19). William's later work, of 1829, shows a similar view but has a much busier foreground, with a fantastic cavalcade marching along the near river bank, and an imperial barge in mid-stream (see Shellim, 1979, WD17). Both these oil paintings are now in the Victoria Memorial Hall in Calcutta. An engraving of the same view was included in The Oriental Annual of 1834.