Thomas & William Daniell

Uncle
and nephew Thomas and William Daniell came from a family of English painters
and printmakers. The elder Daniell, a painter trained at the Royal Academy
Schools, took over his orphaned nephew’s education and travelled with William
aged sixteen to India in 1784.

In
Calcutta the Daniells produced a small series of images with the assistance of
local engravers, which appealed to European expatriates living in the rapidly
expanding city. The success of this venture persuaded Thomas and William to
make a sketching tour of northern India and the Himalayas and then another
through southern and western India in response to increased European
interest in the region during the Third Mysore War (1789-92).

The Daniells returned to England and between 1795 and 1808
published their masterpiece Oriental Scenery in
six parts comprising 144 fine hand-coloured aquatints by William after his and
his uncle’s sketches with those of Ellora executed by James Wales. The series
was a phenomenal success; in both India and England it received glowing reviews
and thirty sets alone were purchased by the East India Company at approximately
£20,000 a set in today’s money.

Following on their triumph, the Daniells published Views
in Egypt in 1808–9 and Picturesque Voyage to India, by Way of
China in 1810. Both Thomas and William remained for their lifetimes
artists in great demand; Thomas was elected to the Royal Academy, and later too
William, who further produced his great solo series A Voyage Round Britain from
1813-25.

The
views of India executed by the Daniells are some of the very best topographical
works ever produced of the country, representing the zenith of achievement in
aquatint and remain some of the most sought after images of the country today.