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Lot Essay
The Chitpore Road led northwards from the centre of Calcutta towards the 'native' quarter of the city. Prominent in the watercolour is the house of a Bengali merchant. The Daniells were slightly sceptical of its architectural merits:
'the style of architecture in its ornamental parts is Mahommedan, except in the turret, which is an unsuccessful attempt at the Grecian, as introduced by the Portugueze. These incongruities very frequently occur in modern Indian buildings, whose owners have intercourse with Europeans' (Oriental Scenery).
The Daniells are perhaps attributing the origin of such hybrid styles to the Portuguese as India's first European colonizers, but more likely they are adopting the contemporary usage of 'Portugueze' to refer to those of mixed race. In the background can be seen the roofs of a typical Bengali Hindu temple. The view was published as Oriental Scenery, vol. II, no. 2 (August 1797), and was later plagiarized by the Staffordshire potter J. Riley.
The Daniells' notes, and indeed the stormy sky, suggest that the drawing was made in the monsoon season. They also record that it was drawn in 1792; Mildred Archer, however, has pointed out that their brief stay in Calcutta during that year did not include the monsoon period, and it was probably in fact made during their earlier, much longer stay, between the spring of 1786 and August 1788.
For a note on the artists please see lot 4.
'the style of architecture in its ornamental parts is Mahommedan, except in the turret, which is an unsuccessful attempt at the Grecian, as introduced by the Portugueze. These incongruities very frequently occur in modern Indian buildings, whose owners have intercourse with Europeans' (Oriental Scenery).
The Daniells are perhaps attributing the origin of such hybrid styles to the Portuguese as India's first European colonizers, but more likely they are adopting the contemporary usage of 'Portugueze' to refer to those of mixed race. In the background can be seen the roofs of a typical Bengali Hindu temple. The view was published as Oriental Scenery, vol. II, no. 2 (August 1797), and was later plagiarized by the Staffordshire potter J. Riley.
The Daniells' notes, and indeed the stormy sky, suggest that the drawing was made in the monsoon season. They also record that it was drawn in 1792; Mildred Archer, however, has pointed out that their brief stay in Calcutta during that year did not include the monsoon period, and it was probably in fact made during their earlier, much longer stay, between the spring of 1786 and August 1788.
For a note on the artists please see lot 4.