Mountain scene in the Himalayas by George Landseer (British); pastel and watercolour on paper; India; 1860.

Mountain scene in the Himalayas; pastel and watercolour on paper. Depicts an encampment in a mountain pass. A fort can be seen on a distant peak. People wearing turbans and with horses, mules and goats are gathered around tents. Baskets of poultry and food.

This picture, done in pastel on paper, depicts a rocky gorge beneath a distant hill fort in Kashmir. In the foreground, a British couple and their dogs rest under a canopy while a servant fills water pots, and horses and mules are unloaded. Hill porters have brought large paniers full of chickens, ducks and fruit. The artist was George Landseer (1834-78), the nephew of the more famous painter Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73). George Landseer set out for India in 1859 and is thought to have stayed there for over fifteen years, travelling all over the subcontinent. In 1860, he accompanied Lord Canning (Governor-General of India from 1856-62) on his tour of Kashmir to escape the hot weather of the plains, and this is almost certainly when the picture was painted.

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