Page 263 - Eye of the beholder

On the 25th April the Daniells were very close to Kolar, where they prepared at least one sketch that was later worked up into the aquatint and incorporated into Oriental Scenery. However, based on the data obtained from the British library drawing, it Is clear that the previous day, 24th April 1792 the Daniells were about 30 kms away from Kolar, in Mulbagal. Mulbagal must have been a relatively small settlement on the wayside. While passing by, the cliff and the small building at the bottom must have captured the fancy of the Daniells. Stopping by the wayside, we can imagine Thomas Daniell ordering a halt to the journey to start sketching the abruptly rising cliff, and the quadrangular building at its base. The travel party and the retinue of 48 servants would be scrambling to erect temporary tents and set the drawing table and get the drawing materials in order. While he would be painting, there would be servants holding shades and umbrellas to guard him against the hot April sun scorching the southern plains. In fact, a watercolor drawn by William Daniell on 8th January 1790 shows a scene exactly like this. This painting, which was originally in the P&O collection shows Thomas Daniell viewing and sketching the Bijaygarh Fortress from the south west (see figure 5) While Thomas Daniell is busy sketching, members of his retinue are busy sheltering him from the sun and erecting a temporary tent. It is easy to extrapolate this picture and imagine that other servants are scrambling around to ensure everything else is in order. The scene must have been pretty much the same while Thomas Daniell was sketching ‘At Mugwaukul’ on 24th April 1792.
The terrain in the region around Kolar is full of rock formations of the kind shown in the painting. It is interesting to note that the Daniells stopped to sketch these landscapes many times in their journey through this area in the next consecutive days. One of these sketches drawn in the Baramahal hills on the 21st of the 22nd April 1792 ended up as the oil painting that sold at Christies in 2000. The other one, drawn in Mulbagal on 24th April 1792, and currently in the British library ended up as the finished painting currently in my collection. During their brief stay at Tanjore on 17th September 1792, Thomas Daniell must have prepared this finished painting based on the preliminary sketch he drew on the 24th April at Mulbagal. Interestingly, the dimensions of the preparatory sketch are the same as that of the finished painting. A third sketch, drawn on the next day, 25th April 1792 eventually made it into the ‘Oriental Scenery’ as an aquatint. With this, the mystery of the painting was finally solved, and I was happy to have been associated with the discovery of a painting that sheds additional light on the Daniell’s epic journey through south Indian undertaken in the summer of 1792.
Apart from being a new art historical discovery, this is also an example of a rare situation where the history of an old painting can be reconstructed to the very day of its creation. This is attributable in large measure to the detailed record keeping of the daniells and their scientific approach.
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