拍品專文
This rare set of the Twelve views of the island of Bombay... was drawn in 1791-92 and subsequently engraved in Bombay by James Wales himself. Two of the views depict the harbour as seen from the quayside near the Custom House (nos. 1 and 2), the following two show the panorama from Malabar Hill across the Back Bay (nos. 3 and 4). The panorama from the top of Mazagaon Hill, then called Belmont, provide the subject for the next five plates which include views over the Western Ghats, the island of Elephanta, the fishing village of Mazagaon, and, looking westwards towards the Arabian Sea, over the then recently completed Breach Causeway. The last three plates of the series are panoramic views taken from Sion Fort and Elephanta Island.
James Wales was born in 1747, a native of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. After his training at Marischal College, he soon drifted into art, earning a modest living as a portrait and occasional landscape painter. He soon established himself as a portrait painter in London, where several of his paintings were regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1783 and 1791.
It was a meeting with a fellow Scotsman, James Forbes, which encouraged Wales to embark for India in January 1791. Forbes had spent more than 17 years in India between 1766 and 1784 and was preparing his own material for the publication of the four volumes of his Oriental Memoirs. Wales, who had sought permission from the East India Company to practise as a portrait and landscape painter, arrived in Bombay in July 1791. He was very soon commissioned to paint portraits of native princes and British officials: A prolonged stay (July-December 1792) with his friend Sir Charles Malet at the Poona court of the Mahratta Peshwa brought him an understanding of Indian culture. At the same time, he developed a particular fondness for and knowledge of Indian architecture, exploring the numerous caves around Poona, Bombay, and on the island of Salsette.
James Wales met the Daniells soon after their arrival in Bombay in March 1793. The friendship they developed was to prove decisive for Wales: the Daniells encouraged him to pursue his production of architectural views and suggested he should make some drawings for publication in Oriental Antiquities.
Wales set to work on his architectural drawings and spent the two following years revisiting and resketching monumental sites of interest in the Poona and Ellora districts, and on the island of Salsette. In May 1795, his wife died in childbirth, leaving him with five daughters. It was on a subsequent visit to the caves of Salsette in October 1795 that Wales caught the fever, from which he eventually died on 18 November 1795.
Taking Wales's children under his protection (he was to marry the eldest daughter Susanna in 1799), Sir Charles Malet travelled home to England in 1798, and brought back with him all Wales's paintings, sketches, engraved plates and notes. In 1800, he arranged for the publication of Twelve Views of Bombay... from the plates already prepared by Wales. He then made contact with the Daniells and asked them to work up and engrave Wales's architectural views, which were eventually published in 1803, as part of the Oriental Scenery.
James Wales was born in 1747, a native of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. After his training at Marischal College, he soon drifted into art, earning a modest living as a portrait and occasional landscape painter. He soon established himself as a portrait painter in London, where several of his paintings were regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1783 and 1791.
It was a meeting with a fellow Scotsman, James Forbes, which encouraged Wales to embark for India in January 1791. Forbes had spent more than 17 years in India between 1766 and 1784 and was preparing his own material for the publication of the four volumes of his Oriental Memoirs. Wales, who had sought permission from the East India Company to practise as a portrait and landscape painter, arrived in Bombay in July 1791. He was very soon commissioned to paint portraits of native princes and British officials: A prolonged stay (July-December 1792) with his friend Sir Charles Malet at the Poona court of the Mahratta Peshwa brought him an understanding of Indian culture. At the same time, he developed a particular fondness for and knowledge of Indian architecture, exploring the numerous caves around Poona, Bombay, and on the island of Salsette.
James Wales met the Daniells soon after their arrival in Bombay in March 1793. The friendship they developed was to prove decisive for Wales: the Daniells encouraged him to pursue his production of architectural views and suggested he should make some drawings for publication in Oriental Antiquities.
Wales set to work on his architectural drawings and spent the two following years revisiting and resketching monumental sites of interest in the Poona and Ellora districts, and on the island of Salsette. In May 1795, his wife died in childbirth, leaving him with five daughters. It was on a subsequent visit to the caves of Salsette in October 1795 that Wales caught the fever, from which he eventually died on 18 November 1795.
Taking Wales's children under his protection (he was to marry the eldest daughter Susanna in 1799), Sir Charles Malet travelled home to England in 1798, and brought back with him all Wales's paintings, sketches, engraved plates and notes. In 1800, he arranged for the publication of Twelve Views of Bombay... from the plates already prepared by Wales. He then made contact with the Daniells and asked them to work up and engrave Wales's architectural views, which were eventually published in 1803, as part of the Oriental Scenery.