Lot Essay
The binding of this album is impressed with the name of 'Robert Mitford', of Mitford Castle, Northumberland. Mitford was born in 1846, the son of Edward Ledwich Osbaldeston Mitford who spent much of his life employed by the Ceylon Civil Service.
The album comprises watercolours by a number of different hands, some of which can be recognised as from particular schools. The first 41 watercolours are by a Calcutta artist, probably from Murshidabad. Murshidabad was one of the first centres where painting for the British by Indian artists developed and many of the artists moved to Calcutta to seek its affluent patrons. The watercolours form a fairly complete set of drawings, probably after the prints of Balthazar Solvyns (1760-1824). Solvyns' publication A Collection of 250 coloured etchings; descriptive of the manners, customs, character, dress and religious ceremonies of the Hindoos, 1796, influenced a large number of Company School artists, whose watercolours are typified by tall elongated figures with a melancholy air. An illustration of 'Armed Retainers' in the present album is close to a watercolour illustrated in M. Archer, Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London, 1979, pl. 26, from an album dated circa 1798-1804.
Watercolours by Lucknow and Patna artists were rarely executed in large sets and it is therefore unusual to see the group of 16 Lucknow School watercolours, within yellow-lined borders. For similar watercolours within yellow-lined borders, dated circa 1815-20 see M. Archer, Company Paintings, Indian Paintings of the British Period, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1992, p. 125. The subject matter depicted in the album ranges from the infamous 'goat eater' to fakirs, dancing girls, studies of musical instruments and snake charmers.
The album comprises watercolours by a number of different hands, some of which can be recognised as from particular schools. The first 41 watercolours are by a Calcutta artist, probably from Murshidabad. Murshidabad was one of the first centres where painting for the British by Indian artists developed and many of the artists moved to Calcutta to seek its affluent patrons. The watercolours form a fairly complete set of drawings, probably after the prints of Balthazar Solvyns (1760-1824). Solvyns' publication A Collection of 250 coloured etchings; descriptive of the manners, customs, character, dress and religious ceremonies of the Hindoos, 1796, influenced a large number of Company School artists, whose watercolours are typified by tall elongated figures with a melancholy air. An illustration of 'Armed Retainers' in the present album is close to a watercolour illustrated in M. Archer, Company Drawings in the India Office Library, London, 1979, pl. 26, from an album dated circa 1798-1804.
Watercolours by Lucknow and Patna artists were rarely executed in large sets and it is therefore unusual to see the group of 16 Lucknow School watercolours, within yellow-lined borders. For similar watercolours within yellow-lined borders, dated circa 1815-20 see M. Archer, Company Paintings, Indian Paintings of the British Period, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1992, p. 125. The subject matter depicted in the album ranges from the infamous 'goat eater' to fakirs, dancing girls, studies of musical instruments and snake charmers.