Robert Home (1752-1834) and the Daniells By April 1792 having spent much of the previous year witnessing events of the third Mysore war, Robert Home had settled in Fort St George and established a studio. Besides painting portraits, he was working-up his sketches made during the campaigns in Mysore into finished drawings for publication as prints. These included the wash drawing, signed and dated, R. Home 1792, depicting the ‘North View of Seringapatam’. Although the Daniells may have met Robert Home on their arrival in Madras from Calcutta, they certainly did so following their south Indian tour. They may even have stayed with him. While examining the drawings in Home’s Scrapbook, William made copies of the soldiers, some of Tipu’s army and others who had been Maratha allies of the British. It is also probable that the Daniells encouraged Home, as the only professional artist present during the Mysore war, to prepare his drawings for engraving and publication. While in Madras, the Daniells made drawings of Fort St George, St Thomas’ Mount and the Armenian Bridge, which they included in Oriental Scenery. The Daniells also visited the Pallava Temple site of Mahabalipuram on the coast south of Madras. Although they may already have seen these monolithic temples, known as Rathas, during the last stage of their tour, it is almost certain that they made a special excursion with Robert Home, probably in February 1793. Two of Home’s watercolours and other drawings in his Scrapbook formed preparatory studies of the celebrated rock carvings, which he subsequently produced as a pair of large oil paintings. Home made a number of meticulous drawings carved panels inside these temples, capturing the exquisite characteristic of these sculptures. In 1797 after returning to London, Thomas Daniell also painted the first of several oils titled, ‘Entrance to an excavated temple at Mahabalipuram’, depicting the same view as Home. While Home’s viewpoint was directly opposite the carvings thus creating a classical composition, Thomas viewed the site from an oblique angle to emphasize the scale and grandeur, thereby evoking the subject’s monumental and Sublime characteristics. There can be little doubt that the contact between Home and the Daniells was mutually beneficial. The Daniells had returned to Madras with an impressive array of pictures depicting many places that Home had never seen. Besides views of the Mysore hill-forts with which he was familiar, their collection included the great temple and palace complexes of Madura, plus images of cascading waterfalls and stunning scenery depicting the southern tip of the subcontinent at Cape Comorin. As a result of their southern tour, the Daniells’ own vision of the Picturesque and their appreciation of the Indian landscape and monuments clearly broadened, embodying more Sublime elements. Unlike the Daniells, Home’s early career had included several years in Italy. Thus having developed archaeological and classical interests, he was also well-versed in the traditional approach to painting. His conventional working methods included preparatory sketches and squared-up drawings for painting compositions, which also feature in his Scrapbook. Home was essentially a portrait and history painter but perhaps as a result of the Daniells’ influence, he added landscapes that included Indian ceremonies and archaeological sites to his repertoire. As Home’s Scrapbbook reveals, he became increasing versatile and painted a great range of subjects in oils, besides designing numerous artefacts such as regalia and ceremonial barges for the court of Oudh. An oil painting in the V&A’s collection may have been painted by him in Lucknow. It depicts a procession passing through a gateway accompanying a dignitary on an elephant and may represent a hunting expedition. After many years away from home and having traversed much of the Indian subcontinent, the Daniells began to plan their return to London. Further funds were needed. On 20 and 27 December 1792, advertisements for another picture Lottery were placed in the Madras Courier, the draw being fixed for 18 February 1793. The list of sixty-eight oils and eight watercolours by Thomas included scenes of south India, but the majority depicted views of the north that had remained unsold in Calcutta. Both ‘A View of Ossore (Hosur), in the Mysore country’ and ‘The Bridge at Jaunpore (U.P.)’ were among them. These were almost certainly the pictures acquired by Chase and later copied in London by William Orme. While preparing to leave Madras, Thomas Daniell wrote to the President of Fort St George, Sir Charles Oakley, on 25 January 1793: ‘Having a Small box (marked T.D.) containing Drawings and Sketches made by myself and nephew William Daniell in a Tour from this place to Cape Comorin, which from their perishable nature I am very anxious may be delivered as early as possible to Messrs. Edmund Boehm of London, unopened, (being previously examined here by Ro

Image details : North view of Seringapatam - 1794 Etching with line-engraving of a north view of Seringapatam by James Fittler (1758-1835) after sketches Robert Home (1752-1834) had made when he had accompanied the troops in Lord Cornwallis's campaign against Tipu Sultan in 1792. Plate 23 from Robert Home's 'Select Views in Mysore, the country of Tippoo Sultan' published in London in 1794. Seringapatam, situated close to Mysore, is an island fortress surrounded Kaveri River. The name of the town is thought to derive from the 9th century Hindu temple on the island, Sri Ranganatha. In the late 18th century, the Mysore rulers Haidar Ali (r.1761-1782) and his son Tipu Sultan (r.1782-1799) fought numerous wars against the British over the control of Southern India. Seringapatam was the site of the two most famous sieges in this conflict in 1792 and 1799. Within the fortified walls of Seringapatam, we can see the minarets of the Jami Masjid on the left and the gopura of the Sri Ranganatha temple on the right. Source : British Library

So beautiful