Mumbai: Rare aquatints of 18th Century India on display in Colaba

MUMBAI: An art gallery located in a South Mumbai hotel is hosting a noteworthy exhibition that is the "single-largest pictorial documentation of 18th Century India's landscape and architecture by any artist".
The English artists Thomas and William Daniell were uncle and nephew who travelled extensively through India during the 18th Century, and went back to Britain to create these artworks.
Titled 'Vision & Landscape', the exhibition is under way till December 11 at DAG, Taj Mahal Palace, Colaba. It has been assembled on the basis of the original six volumes, each with 24 prints. Collectively called 'Oriental Scenery', this is a complete set of 144 aquatint prints by the Daniells.
Ashish Anand, CEO and managing director at DAG, said, "These artworks were issued in pairs between March 1795 and December 1808, and produced by Thomas and William Daniell upon their return to Britain after their travels in India from 1786-1793. They are sourced from collectors worldwide because they deserve to be seen in India."
Thomas Daniell (1749-1840), an employee of The East India Company, and his nephew William (1769-1837) toured the length and breadth of India, up the river Ganga to Delhi, Calcutta, Madras, Madurai and other southern locations. The duo also recreated the Himalayan foothills, Garhwal, western India near Bombay, in particular the rock-cut temples at Ellora. DAG has released an accompanying book that delves into the history and style of the artworks.
The Daniells arrived in Bombay in March 1793 but there was little to depict in the city, given the bare landscape before the cotton boom of the 1860s, which they did not live to see. Their work consists of a handful of aquatints of Elephanta and Kanheri caves, and an extensive portfolio of Ellora caves, which interestingly, they did not visit but adapted from drawings by another artist James Wales who died after contracting a fever in Kanheri caves in 1795.
The curator Dr Giles Tillotson, senior vice president, exhibitions, at DAG, pointed to several artworks that will interest Mumbaikars. He said the caves of western India had begun to generate curiosity among Europeans by the latter half of the 18th Century. "The antiquities of western India were garnering inquisitiveness among Europeans who had begun to explore the region, particularly the Western Caves. In 1786, before the Daniells had arrived in India, so great was the interest excited that papers had been published by the Society of Antiquaries on Elephanta and Salsette, discussing the 'monuments of genius and superstition'."
Tillotson said, "The Daniells drew the entrances of the temples at Elephanta and Kanheri. They included the interiors, one of them even showing artist James Wales in conversation with a local while sketching the inside of Kanheri."
The Daniells only stayed for a short while before heading back to Britain in May 1793. The devoted Wales continued sketching Ellora in 1795. Unfortunately, he died the same year. But his dream of producing an illustrated book on these sites was fulfilled by the Daniells.
This collection was first displayed at Drishyakala at Red Fort, New Delhi, where it remained for three years. This is only the second time it is being shown.