1754.Robert Sayer produced six engraVings of early British settlements inIndia.
June 1769. Tilly Kettle(1735-1786) arrived in Madras as the first professional British painter. He painted a number of portraits at Madras and in 1770 a rather famous portrait of Mohammad Ali Khan, Nawab of Arcot.
1771-73. Kettlewent on to visit the Court of Oudh then located at Faizabad. Welcomed by the Shuja-ud-daula, Nawab of Oudh, Kettle produced six portraits of the Nawab and a charming picture of a dancing girl during his stay. He also painted Indian ceremonies and rituals to include the rite of suttee,or widow burning.
1780-8I. First at Madras and then at Calcutta, William Hodges (1744-1797) produced a series of landscapes done in the picturesque idiom.
They later appeared as a series of aquatints in
hisSelect Views of India(1785-88).
1783. Johann Zoffany(1733-1810) and in 1785 Arthur Devis (1762-1822) arrived at Madras. They both painted in oil, usually portraits ofimportant local personages and their families. While fashionable, oil paintings were subject to deterioration due to the climate and were frequently oflarge size and difficult to transport.
July 1783. Zoffany went to Calcutta and quickly established himself accepting a number of commissions. Portraits of Mrs. Hastings and Sir Elijah Impey proved particularly noteworthy. His style varied from an unaffected naturalism to a flamboyant conversation piece.
1784. Zoffanyalso went to the Court ofOudh now located at Lucknowfor the first of three visits. As British artists viewed the Nawab as a likely source ofriches,Zoffanyalso executed a number of portraits of him. He also completed two famouspaintingscapturing the sense of life at Lucknow, "Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match" and "Colonel Antoine Poller with hisFriends Claud Martin, John Wombwell and the Artist... Athemeemerging from his work regarded the inclusion of Indian India in his works. This was particularly evident in Indian scenes he finished on his return to London:
"Tiger Huntingin the East Indies", "A Battle piece against Hider Ally", "The Death of the Royal Tiger..., and "The Embassy of Hyderabad to Calcutta".
1784. Arthur William Devis (1762-1822) arrived at Calcutta where he executed ten portraits in his first two years. Theyincluded portraits of Warren Hastings, Sir Robert Chambersand his wife, and of other figuresin Calcutta's society. Devis often painted his portraits in outdoor settings which was unique.
Likewise, he injected Indians into his works when appropriate. Later when the Calcutta market for portraits diminished,hewent into the Indian countrySide to paintIndiansengaged in their arts and crafts. His greatest success came in the picture, "Lord Cornwallis Receiving the Sons of Tipu as Hostages".
1784. Thomas Hickey(1741-1824) came to Madras where he was to spend most of the rest of his life. What his paintings lacked in excellence, they made up for in quantity as
their facile execution was much appreciated.
His paintings admitted the Indian and demonstratedhis Importantcollaborative role to the British presence inIndia. At the time of the 4th Mysore War In 1799, Hickey painted portraits of many of the associated important British and Indian personages. Perhaps his most famous work, "Colonel Colin Mackenzie and his Assistants" was painted in 1816 at Madras.
1786. Francesco Renaldi (1755-c.1799) painted theportrait of considerable Interest,
"The Palmer Family" at Calcutta in 1786.
Here, and In other works he displayed ahighly sensitive skll1 in painting young Muslimladies, often bibis, or mistresses, with delicate sensuality. He exhibited many of these works in London from 1777 to 1778.
History of British India 171 exploration. Wales made a number of drawings and paintings of temples of the Elephanta and of the cave temples of SalsetteIsland. When he died In 1795, the Daniells saw to the publication of his drawings in Hindoo Excavations in the Mountain near Aurungabadinthe Decan(1803).
1794. Two collections of engraVings appeared this year representing the work of two gifted amateurs. Robert Colebrooke (1762-1898), an army officer, painted In southern India during the Mysore wars. His landscape drawings appeared In hisTwelve Views of Places in the Kingdom of Mysore(1794). A fellow officer, Sir Alexander Allan (1764-1820), also drew landscapeswhich appearedIn Collections of Views of Mysore Country(1794).
1757. With Clive's restoration of British control over Calcutta, the city entered a period of great economic growth. Homeowners began to replace their old bungalows with Georgian styled town houses resembling downsized English country houses. The growth of these homes along the Hughli and the erection of new civic buildings In Calcutta earned in the 1757-73. Following the destruction of thefirst Fort Wl1llam In 1756 by Slraj-ud-Daula,the Company constructed a new Fort Wll1iam which stood out as the greatest fortress the British built InIndia. Captain Brohler served as architect until he departed for Ceylon under thethreat of prosecution for fraud. It then fell to Archibald Campbell (1739- I791) to complete the £2 ml1lion facility.
1802. George Chinnery(1774-1854) was the lastof the "national caliber" artists to arrive In Calcutta. Although he executed many landscapes, he was evaluated by the critics as the finest portrait painter In India. Three particularly noteworthy portraits were of Sir Henry Russell, Gilbert Elliott and Francis Rawdon Hastings. Chinneryworked In oils, pencil and wash, crayon,and watercolor. He also painted miniatures onIvory. He appeared to be a good teacher Instructing such amateurs as Sir Charles D'Oyly (1781-1845), Lady Harriet Paget, and Mrs. Martha Bellett Brown.
Chinnery was to spend twenty-three years painting In India.
1786.Ozlas Humphry (1742-1810) arrived at Lucknow. Humphrey executed a number of miniatures. Like other British artistshealso found his way to Lucknow In search of patrons.
He painted five miniatures of the Nawab of Oudh and a number of other court figures for which he received Rs. 5,000.
Jan. 1791. Robert Home (1752-1834) established himself in Madras atthetime ofthe 3'dMysore War. Threeimportant paintings by Home emerged from the war: "Lord Cornwallis", the scene of "Lord Cornwallis Receiving the Sons ofTipu Sultan as Hostages", and the painting "The Death of Colonel Moorhouse" which carried overtones of the famous depiction of the death of General Wolfe at guebec. His scenes of the 3'd Mysore War appeared inhis Selected Views in Mysore.
the Country of Tippoo Sultan(1794). After the warhealso executed the portraits ofArthur Wellesley and Richard Colley Wellesley. In 1814 Home received appointment from Saadat All as Court Painter at Lucknow where he remained for the next thirteen years painting mostly court pictures.
1791-95.James Wales (1747·1795) completed most of his workInBombay and Poona. He accomplished portraits ofvarious figures ofthe Maratha Court: Mahadjl Sclndia, Peshwa Sawai Madhavradeo, and Nana Faravls. He also executed a charming portrait of Charles Warre Malet'sbibi, Amber Kaur. While painting In Poona, Wales also superintended a palace school of drawing. With an enthusiasm for
1755-1790.
CALCUTTA.
RECONSTRUCTION OF
172 History of British India sobriquet of the City of Palaces.
1780. In this year the Writers' Building In Calcutta was completed. Itcontained nineteen sets of apartments for junior clerks of the Company. It also possessed several rooms designated for the use as classrooms for the new Fort Wl1llam College. Thomas Lyon and Mr. Fortnam designed the structure in a classical style, but It was not viewed as a success. In 1880 the Company redesigned building's front with a Corinthian motif and assigned it for the use by the Bengal Secretariat.
28 June 1787. St. John's Church received consecration. Captain James (c.d.1828) a military engineer, Injected aspects of neo-classicism Into his design for the church which he had likely adopted from Glbb's Book of Architecture(1728).As a replacement for St.
Anne's, destroyed by Slraj-ud-Daula. it bore many similarities to London's St.Martln-In-the Fields.
1780-1805. BRITISH PICTURESQUE LANDSCAPISTS.
1780-83. William Hodges (1744-1797)became the first professional landscape artist to visit India. Arriving in Madras In 1780, the unsettled conditions of the countryside due to the 3'd Mysore War limited his opportunities to paint. He passed on to Bengal where he conducted a number of tours of Upper and central India. Returning to London he exhibited twenty-five 011 paintings and forty-eightengraved acquaintsatthe Royal Academy.
They later were published In his Selected Views in India(1785,1788)andIn hisTravels in India (1793). His pictures Included:
landscapes, river scenes, Muslim tombs and mosques, Hindu temples, and forts and palaces.Theyrepresentedthe picturesque style of painting where the scenes appeared novel and romantic with great attention to light, shade, and clouds. They possess a quiet composureandfrequently used the colors of green, brown,tanandgray.
1785-94. Thomas Daniell(1749-1840) and his cousin, William Daniell (1769-1837), Initially remained In Calcutta (1786-88) drawing and engraving landscapesandfamiliar city scenes which appeared In theirViews of Calcutta(1786-81). In 1788-91they became
the first British artists to conducted an extensive tour of UpperIndiapainting in oils exquisitelandscapes,antiquities, palaces, and monuments. Their style of drawing and the objects of their work projected the picturesque Ideal. Following a tour of south India In 1793-94,the Daniells returned to London where they continued to paint exhibit at the Royal Academy. Their work also appeared as one hundred and forty-four aquatints published In Oriental Scenery(1795-1898).
1806. Captain Charles Gold of the Royal Regiment of Artl1lery drew fiftyaquatintsof the Madras landscapeInthe course of his travels in the countryside which he represented in the picturesque genre. Theywould appear In his Oriental Drawings (1806).
1813. In 1784 James Forbes (1749-1819) retired from the Company's service and returned to England where he prepared his four-volume Oriental Memoirs(1813). The hundreds of detailed l1lustratlons ofindian life, scenery and monuments provided a unique expressionof western India In the picturesque style.
1780-1820. EARLY BRITISH SCULPTURE IN INDIA.
1780s. In the later eighteenth century the Bacons, father and son, developed the decorative allegorical style which characterized much of British sculpture executed inIndia.
Some of the first church funerary monuments were sculpted In Madras. For example, the monument to Lieutenant-Colonel John Campbell, who died in 1784 at Mangalore during the Third Mysore War, was placed In 5t.
Thomas's CathedralatMadras. The marble monument to Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Moorhouse, who died in 1791 at the siege of Bangalore. Is located at 5t. Mary's Church.
Madras.
1800. From about this date the church memorials honoring civil offiCials of the Company projected a eulogistic theme toward the performance of duty and In the case ofSir William Jones (1746-1794) and James Kirkpatrick (1764-1805) sculpture denoting their Interest in Oriental knowledge. Two monuments by James Flaxman ofJonesare located In England. While John Bacon, Jr.'s
work of Kirkpatrick resides at St. John's Church, Calcutta. Both sculptures possessed Eastern symbolsanda sense of mysticism.
Deathbed scenes constituted another theme of sculpture and were acommon means for the representation of those associated with the Christian ministry. Sculptures by John Bacon, Jr. of the Danish missionary Christian Frederick Schwartz (d. 1798)arelocatedatSt.
Mary's Church, Madrasandat Tanjore.
Few sculptures devoted to women were executed in India. Anexception is John Bacon, Jr.'s monumentatSt. Mary's Church, Madras of Jane Amelia Russell who diedin1808. Her family connections, brief life, and recent marriage earned her this touching deathbed scene.
181Os. John Bacon, Jr. initiatedanaltruistic theme in Indian architecture depicting the phllanthropic and Good Samaritan images.
His monument of George Gllbert Keble (d.1811) at St. Mary's Church, Madras, demonstrates this sense of charity. Likewise, Bacon's relief of Charles Robert Ross (d.1816) in St. John's Church, Calcutta, displays a philanthropic scene.
1785-1875. NATURALHISTORYAND ART.
1785-1844. Patrick Russell (1726-1805), Major-General Thomas Hardwicke (c.l 755-1835) andBrian HoughtonHodgson (1800-1894) accumulated great collections of drawings of their natural history specimens. In additionto their drawings theytaughtIndian artists to make thousands of lllustrations of plants, birdsand fishes.Hardwicke published a noteworthy book of them with his Illustrationsof Indian Zoology(1830-34).
1793-1846. The great botanical gardens of Calcutta and elsewhere developed and matured in this period. The first two directors at Calcutta, William Roxburgh (1751-1815) and Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854), employed numerous Indianartiststo draw illustrations of the variouscollectionsofexoticplants and flowers.
1813. James Forbes produced thousands of natural history drawings of specimens found in GUjeratasfound in his one hundred-fifty folio volumes of papers. Many of these drawings
History of British India 173 appearedin hisOriental Memoirs(1813).
1873-74. Edward Lear (1812-1888) visited Indiaasthe guest of LordNorthbrooke (1826-1904) where he sketched plants, birds and animals of the Indian countryside. He proved to be one of the last naturalist painters priorto the onset of photography.
1800-1830. GENERAL ARCffiTECTURAL DEVELOPMENTS.
1800. From this time the British urban settlements in Upper India emerged as cantonmentsseparated from thebazaar and Indian life. They usually rested five or six miles from the Indian city with which they were associated. They included permanent bungalows,mess halls, barracks, clubs,anda garrison church. Within the cantonment the civiliansand mllitary were further divided from one another.
1800. From this pOint onward the British gradually developed the bungalow from a thatch-covered one floored structure to a substantial house adapted to its tropical surroundings. On occasion certainclassical details might be worked intoitsdesign. They usually resided in separate compounds.
Necessity created complimentary cane and bamboo furniture.
1830. Ataboutthis time the development of the hlll station as a British summer refuge began. Ootacamund in the Nllgiris Hllls of southern India and Simla and Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas developed first, but were to followed by Muree, Mussoori, Dalhousie, Nainital, Almora,andKalimpong.
1800-20. ARCHITECTURAL
DEVELOPMENTS IN MADRAS.
1800. Lord Edward Clive (1754-1839), later Earl of Powis,asGovernor of Madras took the existing Triplicane Garden House and improved it greatly. The original structure dated from 1746 when it belonged to a Portuguese merchant. In 1753 Governor Thomas Saunders (d. 1755) boughtitfor the Company to serveasthe Governor's mansion.
Clive turned the house over to his architect, John Goldingham whoextendedit from130to 205 feet in breadth, moved the mainentrance from the west to theeastside, builtatwo-story
174 History of British India
veranda, and generally remodeled the Interior.
The house was surrounded by a seventy-flve-acre parkland.
7 Oct. 1802. Adjacent to the remodeled Governor's mansion, John Goldingham also designed the Banqueting Hall for the use of official functions. It carried the appearance of a neo-classlcal temple with an exterior of a sixteenth-century manner possessing Tuscan-Doric columns. The hall contained a number of military decorations celebrating British victories at Plassey and Serlngapatam In addition to a series of portraits of military leaders to include: Coote. Cornwallis and Medows. The Banqueting Hall was inaugurated on this date In celebration of the declaration of the Peace of Amiens.
16Jan. 1816. BishopReginaldHeber(1783-1826)consecrated the new St. George's Church at Madras. Thomas de Havilland (1775-1866) erected the church using a plan drawn by Captain James Caldwell (1770-1863) of the Madras Engineers. Caldwell drew his inspiration from James Gibbs' plans for St.
Martin-in-the-Fields, London. As a design It possessed a mixture of Classical and Gothic elements. The exterior was purelyIndianwith its white pollshed chunam finishing surface. In
1833it became St. George's Cathedral.
1818-1820.Thomas deHavllandalsoerected in Madras St. Andrews Church of the Scottish Kirk. Although it bears some of the characteristics of St. Martin-In-the-Fields, it varies initscurvilinear plan with a diameter of eight-oneand a half feet and Its massive Ionic columns.
1800·1855. EARLY BRITISH FICTION.
1805-15. Mary Martha Sherwood (1775-1851)resided InIndiawith her husband, an officer of the Bengal Army. From her teaching experiences and religious work at Dlnapore, Berhampur, Cawnpore and Meerut. she wrote alarge number of children's stories to include:
The History of Little HenryandHis Bearer (1815), The Memoirs of Sergeant Dale....
(1815), The Indian Pilgrim (1818), and Arzoomund (1829). Deeply religious, her stories often contained an intolerance of Islam and Cathollcs and a near hysterical response to Hinduism.
1854. Wl\llam Delafield Arnold (1828-1859) observedIndiaclosely from his experiences as anarmy officer. From them he wrote the novel, Oakfield; or Fellowship in the East(1854).
Arnoldcriticized the Anglo-Indian lifestyle and suggested that the Indians ought to and could rule themselves.
1800-1850. ARCHITECTURAL
DEVELOPMENTS AT CALCUTTA.
180I.Lord Wellesley(1760-1842), Governor-General of India, acqUired at Barrackpore seventy acres and two bungalows. Here, he planned a palatial country house fifteen miles from Calcutta. The Company nipped his plans in the bud by recalling him. Some of the plans went forward, however, resulting in the construction of a main floor for the principal house and several separate structures for guests. The surroundinglandscapeadjacent to the Hughli proved particularly beautiful and much beloved. Later the death and burial of Lady Charlotte Canning (1817-1861) at Barrackpore brought to closure to JoY felt for Barrackpore.
Jan.1803. Lord Wellesleyopened the new Government House with a great ball commemorating the Peace of Amiens. The structure consisted of a central block of three floors and four wings. It possessed considerable resemblance to Kedleston Hallin Derbyshire. As adapted by Lieutenant Charles Wyatt(1758-1819), Superintendent of Publlc Works of the Bengal Engineers, It took him six years to complete at a cost of £167,359. It possessed an Ionic facade. Grey marble from Italy was imported for the floors and teak wood from Burma for interior finishing. Only after 1870 did Lord Mayo (1822-1872) take an interest In landscaping the six-acre site surrounding Government House.Displayinga vigorous interest, he fl\led It with trees, flower beds, and ornamental scrubs. Later stl\lLord Curzon (1859-1925) added electricity, modernized the plumbing.. and installed electric lifts and fans.
1813. Placed on Calcutta's Esplanade,anew Town Hall was constructed and placed in service. Colonel John Garstin (1756-1820), Chief Engineer of Bengal, deSigned a purely Palladian structure with no local features to moderate the severities of Bengal's climate. In 1818It underwent some significant overhaul.
HistoryofBritishIndia 175 Bailie Fraser (1783-1856) produced twenty vJews which appeared In his Views of the Himala Mountains (1820).
I820s. John Bacon. Jr.createdone of the first monuments using the weepingsepoyfor his officer rather than the loneweeping women. In 1824-26. Fraser alsodrewaseries of pictures of Calcuttawhich werepublished inViews of Calcutta andits Environs(1824-26) in eight parts.Thetwenty-four scenesincluded public bulldlngs, thecity'sgates,andscenesalong the Hughli.
1831. Sir Charles D'Oyly (1781-1845) foundedand then served asthe President ofthe Patna Art Society. A giftedamateur painter he had preViously at Dacca and then at Patna painteda number ofIndian scenes including landscapes, riveractivJties,Indian workshops, and Hindu temples.
BRITISH MILITARY 1810-1850.
MONUMENTS.
As the Company's military forces increased in size and as more wars ensued, monuments devoted to the military far out numbered all others. Frequently executed In memory ofa
As the Company's military forces increased in size and as more wars ensued, monuments devoted to the military far out numbered all others. Frequently executed In memory ofa