Page 262 - Eye of the beholder

As a mark of desperation, I turned to searching the internet hoping that either the digitized institutional collections or some private collectors would be able to offer some clues. In the last decade, the internet had become seminal in enabling the democratization of art-historical knowledge. Availability of information in the public domain has led to changes in the attribution of known paintings, identification of unknown works, and some new art discoveries. The later, I was soon to realize, would be a situation I would find myself in. Quite by chance, while scouring the internet for any clue about the whereabouts of my painting, I came across another painting by the same name and drawn by Thomas Daniell.! (Figure 7)
The British Library in London has in its collection some of the best works of colonial Indian art. These include exquisite miniatures from the pre-mughal era, manuscripts on palm leaf and paper, as well as an extensive collection of sketches and paintings related to colonial India. Paintings by the Daniells and their predecessors are an important part of this collection. Among the many paintings in this collection was a preliminary sketch attributed to Thomas Daniell titled ‘ At Mugwaukul’ and having the exact same dimensions as the painting in my collection (30.8 by 39.7 cms12.5 inches by 15.5 inches). The photograph available on the British Library website did not have a very high resolution, but it left no doubt that the subject matter was the same (see image). More importantly, research already done by the British council identified ‘Mugwaukul’ as the present day town of ‘Mulbagal
(Mudalabaagilu)’ in Karnataka, about 30 kms away Kolar by road. The image in the British library drawing doubtlessly showed the same location as the one shown in the painting in my collection. The two paintings however, showed different views, because the vantage points used in the two cases were different. The starkly rising cliff and the quardrangular construction at its base was unmistakable in both the cases. However, while the painting in my collection showed a frontal view of the cliff, the drawing in the British library collection showed a lateral view. More importantly however, the drawing in the British library collection was a preparatory sketch dated 24th April 1792 whereas the finished painting in my collection was dated 17th September 1792.
Finally there was enough information available for all the pieces of the puzzle to be put together. The Daniells had started overland from Madras on the 9th April 1792. They covered a distance of about 11 km and reached Perumbur on the 11th April. After passing through Kanchipuram and Vellore, the next documented stop was in the region of the Baramahal hills on the 10th April. There are no published aquatints of any of the places the Daniells visited on their way from Madras, till the time they reached Kolar. It is hard to believe that they did not stop to sketch important landmarks like the magnificient temples in Kanchipuram or the rugged terrain around the Baramahal hills. The only logical conclusion is that sketches and watercolors drawn at these places are still awaiting discovery and identification somewhere. In fact, an oil painting by Thomas Daniell came up for auction at Christies in2000. Titled ‘Baramahal Hills’, this painting depicted one of the rock formations similar to the one shown in the painting in my collection. Doubtlessly, this oil painting must have been based on a sketch or watercolor that was made on the spot.
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