The document discusses several British artists who traveled to India in the late 18th century, including Tilly Kettle and William Hodges. It also discusses the Daniells (Thomas and William), who traveled extensively throughout India between 1786-1793, producing detailed etchings and paintings of landscapes and architecture. Many of these artists gained patronage from prominent British figures in India and went on to exhibit their works documenting India at the Royal Academy in London.

1. British Travelling Artists
BFA Fourth Year, Seventh Semester

2. History
• 1576-1580 – Akbar invited Jesuit missionaries to his court, an
adaptation of European themes and artistic styles.
• Father Rudolf Aquaviva, Father Monserrate, and Brother Francis
Henrique
• Polyglot Bible, a multi-volume set containing Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew
and Latin translations of the holy book.
• European allegorical themes adopted to establish political supremacy

3. European Influence on Mughal Paintings

4. Mughal Emperor Akbar
holds a religious
assembly in the Ibadat
Khana in Fatehpur
Sikri; the two men
dressed in black are
the Jesuit missionaries
Rodolfo Acquaviva and
Francisco Henriques, c.
1605.

5. Basawan,Woman Worshiping the
Sun: Page from the Gulshan Albumca,
C.1590–95, Opaque watercolor and
gold on paper, 23 x 11.4 cm, The MET
European Influence: windswept robes,
the pitcher, the placement of
attendant, and the transformation of a
god in clouds

6. Jahangir holding a portrait of the Virgin
Mary,1630,Opaque watercolour and gold on
paper, National Museum

7. Abu al-Hasan, The Emperor Jahangir Standing on a Globe Shooting
Poverty, c. 1620, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
In the painting, Jahangir is elevated to a god-like
status, through the halo, the chain of justice held by a
putto on the left connecting him with the heavens.
Two putti can be seen holding a crown atop his head.
His arms are arched with bow and arrow standing
atop a globe on the lion along with a lamb sitting
peacefully. Beneath the globe an old man, identified
as Manu by Robert Skelton who points to a
scroll(Manuspriti). A large fish(incarnation of Vishnu)
with a swamped tail is shown at the botton.
The most obvious European motifs are of the putti
and the halo which were derived from religious prints
and paintings. The crowning of Jahangir by putti (
was probably based on the second frontispiece of the
Polyglot Bible, but the laurel wreath was replaced by
Timur’s imperial crown as a claim to Timurid
ancestry. The depiction of a king or queen standing on
a globe which appears in most of allegorical portraits
also occurs in European royal portraiture

8. Emperor Jahangir is seen embracing emperor Shah
Abbas of Persia. An enormous halo, solar and
lunar, supported by angels, encircles the two
emperors. Jahangir is standing on a lion and Shah,
on a lamb. Both the figures are placed on a globe,
embracing each other, depicting peace. Jahangir is
shown larger and stronger almost dominating Shah
who has a much smaller frame and seems docile.
The painting is a parody of the peaceful yet
uncomfortable relation between Persian and
Mughal empires. Jahangir has used this allegorical
painting to express his bitterness and resentment
towards Shah, a way of expression often used by
him. The painting depicts him as a powerful
monarch steeped in grandeur.

9. Jahangir on Hour-glass, ca. 1630, Bichitr,
V&A Collection
The painting suggests Jahangir as the ruler who
has conquered the whole world, by putting the
European and Turkish Sultan in subordination
to his own image.
He shows that even though he has conquered
the world and time even, his inclination towards
spirituality overpowers. He shows this through
the exchange of the religious book with saint.
He shows his faith and devotion to god and
establishes that he is ruling by divine mandate.
Broken arrow and a cherub covering his face
depicts his favour for peace and not war.
Cherubs below are seen writing calligraphic
texts that mean, “may he live a hundred years”
The artist has rendered each figure
individualistically. Their races, ages, features
and costumes are very well depicted. Th artist
has incorporated his own image also in this
painting.

10. Hashim and Abu'l Hasan. Jahangir and Jesus Jahangir and Jesus. Jahangir by Hashim c. 1615-1620. Jesus by Abu’l-Hasan, c. 1610-1620. Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

11. Abu'l Hasan, Study of Saint John
the Evangelist, After Albrecht Dürer,
c. 1600–1601 , Brush drawn ink on
paper,The MET

12. British Travelling Artists

13. Tilly Kettle
Jan 31, 1735 - July 1786
• Tilly Kettle was born in London in 1735 and established a
career as a portrait painter working in a style influenced by
Reynolds.
• From 1762-64, he worked mainly in Oxford and the Midlands
due to the intense competition from other artists in London, but
returned there in 1764.
• In 1768, he set off for India, perhaps encouraged to establish a
career as a portrait painter there by Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel
Cornish, whose portrait he had painted in that same year.
• He disembarked at Madras in June 1769 at the age of thirty-
four and was to stay in India until 1776.

14. Tilly Kettle, Portrait of an Officer of the East India Company , Oil on canvas,1770
Major Sweeney Toone has been
suggested among possible candidates.
Major Toone served as Aide-de-Camp
to Warren Hastings and the latter
stood as godfather to two of Toone's
sons. In 1773 Toone was responsible
for raising a troop of cavalry at
Benares to serve as the Governor
General''s Body Guard. The
flamboyant uniform in this portrait
has been compared to that of the
Body Guard, although -regulations
notwithstanding- uniforms in this
period were seldom a rigidly-fixed
matter and the dress might as easily
be that of an infantry officer. The
sepoy dress depicted with some care
in the background has been identified
as that of the Bengal Third Brigade.

15. Tilly Kettle, Dancing Girl, Oil on Canvas, 1772

16. Tilly Kettle, Muhammad Ali Khan , Nawab of Arcot , Oil on Canvas,1770

17. Tilly Kettle, Alexander Davidson, Governor of Madras, Oil on
Canvas,1770

18. Tilly Kettle, Nawab Shuja' ud-Daula of Avadh in Afghan dress, Painted in opaque watercolour on paper, 1772

19. Tilly Kettle, Suja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh, with Four Sons, General Barker and Military Officers,Oil on Canvas,1772,VMC

20. Tilly Kettle,Dancers, Oil on canvas, 161.3 x 132 cm,NGMA

23. William Hodges
• William Hodges was born in London in 1744 to tradesmen in St. James. Hodges had been a pupil
of Richard Wilson for seven years and had been trained by him to paint in the principles of
classical idealism
• In 1772 he had accompanied Captain Cook on his second voyage to New Zealand as the official
artist for the Admiralty, embarked with Captain Cook on the Resolution which lasted for three
years, and took Hodges to the Cape of Good Hope, Antarctica, and New Zealand and in South
Pacific islands.
• Hodges reached India in 1780 and stayed there for almost four years. He arrived at Madras in
February 1780 but due to the outbreak of the Second Mysore war he moved to Calcutta where he
gained the patronage of Warren Hastings, the then Governor General of India. His later travels
resulted in many images, which he regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy. He was elected to be
an Associate in 1786 and became a Royal Academician in 1787; the painting he submitted for this
honour was a view depicting Banaras Ghats. his writings, made a vital contribution to the British
perception of India's past compiled into three volumes of ‘Travels in India’.

24. A view of the Fort of Agra, soft ground etching with aquatint, 1786.

25. Tombs at Sikandra, near Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Coloured etching, 1788.

26. Ruins of the palace and mosque at Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh. Coloured etching, 1785.

27. River Ganges at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Coloured etching, 1788

28. Thomas and William Daniell

29.  The Daniell’s travelled in India, from 1786 to 1793, voyaging and documenting for seven to eight years across the length
and breadth of the subcontinent. Visited Banaras twice,first in 1788 then in 1789.
 Thomas Daniell was the son of an innkeeper began his life as a bricklayer and then as an apprentice to a coach builder. At
the age of 21 he became assistant to Charles Catton, who was the coach painter for the King. He then joined the Royal
Academy of Art and produced annual paintings. He first turned to architecture and landscape in 1781 when he was
commissioned to produce six views of a wealthy patron’s country house, that opening seems to have directed his attention
towards the dramatic landscape.
 They set out from England in 1786 and took three tours across India: up the Ganga from Calcutta to Srinagar, 1788-91,
Mysore from Madras, 1792-93, and finally to England in 1793 visiting Bombay publishing six volumes of ‘Oriental
Scenery’ between 1795 and 1808. Thomas Daniell in 1810, expressed eloquently: ‘It remains for the artist to claim his part
in these guiltless spoliations, and to transport to Europe the picturesque beauties of those favoured regions.’

30.  Thomas called himself an engraver while applying to the Company for permission to travel along with 15 year
old William Daniell as his assistant.
 The Daniells’ were at Benares on the outward journey in early December 1788 and on their return journey to
Calcutta a year later. The Daniells’ in the descriptive text wrote: “The gauts at Bernares are the most
considerable of any on the Ganges.... An opinion prevails amongst them, that drawing their last breath at cossi is
a circumstance much in favour of their employment of future happiness.”
 The Daniells’ borrow the principles of the picturesque to introduce a harmony into the image by sanitizing the
view. The modulation of the tone exemplifies the control that they exercise over the atmosphere. It is conveyed
to the viewer by a peaceful calm warm palette with the pale skies and the peaceful co-existence of land, earth,
water, and skies with the inhabitants of the land.