All three artist members of the Daniell family depicted the rhinoceros, Thomas and his nephew William (1769-1837) and Samuel (1775-1811). There is a photograph in the Witt Library of a drawing attributed to Thomas showing the head of a rhinoceros seen from the same angle as in this painting (6¾ x 8 3/8in., with various inscriptions). An engraving probably by William after Samuel, is included in Samuel Daniell's African Scenery and Animals, 2 vols. (1804-5), II, no. 30, The African Rhinoceros, dated 15 November 1805. William included the rhinoceros in two publications, Interesting Selections from Animated Nature, 2 vols. [1807-12], II, dated 1 March 1807, and The Oriental Annual/; or Scenes in India, II, 1835, where the engraving after William was accompanied by a text by the Rev. Hobart Caunter. (For these engravings see T. Sutton, The Daniells, Artists and Travellers, 1954, pp. 106, 139-41, 153 and 164.)
The picture will be included in Dr. Maurice Shellim's next supplement of additional oil paintings by the Daniells as a work by Thomas Daniell.
The great one-horned Indian Rhinoceros is the largest of the two surviving species of Asiatic rhinoceros, the other being the Javan rhinoceros. The most striking feature is its thick hide, which has several loose folds, notably on its neck, behind its forequarters and in front of its hindquarters giving the impression that the animal is encased in armour-plate. At the time this picture was painted, the animal was distributed over much of northern India. It inhabited swampy areas of the great grass jungles that covered a large portion of the plains of the country. An indication of the relative abundance of the rhinoceros in India can be gained from the fact that by 1876, the Government of Bengal was offering a bounty of Rs.20 to anyone who shot a rhinoceros, on the ground of damage to standing crops. Fifty years later numbers had been so reduced that the hunting of rhinos in Bengal and Assam had to be prohibited