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Creator:
Thomas Daniell, 1749–1840
William Daniell, 1769–1837
Title:

Main Entrance of the Jami Mosque, Jaunpur

Date:
1797 to 1807
Medium:
Watercolor and graphite on thick, moderately textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 22 1/8 x 32 1/8 inches (56.2 x 81.6 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed on verso in pen and brown ink, lower left: "N. 77 Graet Mosque at Jaunpur"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.6140
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
architectural subject
Associated Places:
Jaunpur
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
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Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:9224
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In 1784 Thomas Daniell set out for India with his nephew William. India offered a rich lode of material for the topographical artist, with large potential markets for Indian view among the British in India and back home. William Hodges's Select Views of India, based on his travels between 1780 and 1783, pointed the way. The Daniells sought to surpass Hodges both in the extent of their travel and view taking and in the topographical accuracy. They remained in India until 1794, when they returned to England and began working up their Indian drawings for publication. Their monumental Oriental Scenery, with 144 aquatints, was issued in six volumes from 1795 to 1808.
During their travels around India, the Daniells employed a camera obscura to produce detailed pencil drawings such as the one of Tremal Naig's Choultry in Madura. The drawing, made in July 1792 during a tour of south India, shows the Choultry or Thousand-pillared Hall of Rajah Tremal Naig. The aquatint based on the drawing was published as a Plate 18 in the second volume of Oriental Scenery in 1798. In the commentary to the plate, the Choultry is described as "one of the first works of its kind in the south of Hindoostan."
The Daniells drew the Jami Mosque at Jaunpur in November 1789. Their imposing watercolor of the mosque's main entrance is an example of the finished watercolors that they worked up from their Indian field drawings after their return to England. It was reproduced in aquatint in 1802 as Plate 9 in the fourth volume of Oriental Scenery.
Thomas and William seem to have worked together on both their field drawings and their finished watercolors, making it difficult to distinguish their individual contributions. The unfinished drawing of Sankrydroog (Sankjardrug) has been attributed solely to William, but the evidence is inconclusive. In the Journal that William kept of their Indian travels, he records being at Sankrydroog on May 24, 1792. Although the Daniells did include several views of Sankrydroog in Oriental Scenery, this particular composition was not published.

Scott Wilcox

Wilcox, Forrester, O'Neil, Sloan. The Line of Beauty: British Drawings and Watercolors of the Eighteenth Century. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2001. pg. 97 cat. no. 80

On the Paths of Illumination. The Myth of India in Western Culture 1857-2017 (Museo d'Arte della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, 2017-09-24 - 2018-01-21) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Company Culture (Yale Center for British Art, 2003-09-16 - 2004-01-05) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

The Line of Beauty : British Drawings and Watercolors of the Eighteenth Century (Yale Center for British Art, 2001-05-19 - 2001-08-05) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Morna O'Neill, Company Culture:, British Artists and the East India Company 1770-1830: October 16, 2003-January 11, 2004 , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2003, no. 28, V 1199 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Elio Schenini, On the Paths of Enlightenment: The Myth of India in Western Culture, 1808-2017, Skira editore, Milano, Italy, p. 89, cat. 39, N7305 .O58 2017 (LC) (YCBA) [YCBA]

Scott Wilcox, Line of beauty : British drawings and watercolors of the eighteenth century, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, pp. 97-8, no. 80, NC228 W53 2001 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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