Gateway of the palace at Indore by William Carpenter, painting, watercolour on paper, India, 1852.

This view of the gateway and walls of the palace is taken from the main square with houses on the right and also includes the Maharaja's sawari or cavalcade of horsemen, while people throng the square.

In this view of the palace gateway, Carpenter has captured the busy atmosphere of the square with the Maharajah's parade and the people in the marketplace.

William Carpenter was trained at the Royal Academy Schools, and was the eldest son of the distinguished portrait painter Margaret Sarah Carpenter and William Hookham Carpenter, who became Keeper of the Prints and Drawings Department at the British Museum.

He was in India from 1850 t0 1856, during which time he travelled extensively from Bombay (Mumbai) and across western India to Rajasthan, Delhi, Kashmir, Lahore and Afghanistan. His depiction of every day street scenes and groups of people is remarkably accurate and animated, his portraits vividly capturing the character of his sitters and the glowing effects of sunlight as cityscapes and architectural monuments. Brilliantly executed in a range of warm colours, his watercolours evoke a gentle romanticism.

After his return to England, The Illustrated London News published some of his watercolours. In 1881, he exhibited 275 of his paintings in a one-man show in the South Kensington Museum, London. This entire collection was subsequently acquired by the V&A.

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