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The Royal Pavilion, Brighton.
Thomas
Daniell was born in 1749 in Kingston upon Thames in Surrey. His father was the
landlord of the Swann pub in Chertsey, a few miles from Kingston. He was born
in the same year as Charles James Fox, the great Whig politician and adversary
of William Pitt the Younger. Fox lived in Chertsey in the latter part of his
life.. I am sure the two never met, partly because of their differing
backgrounds and also because their respective occupations were so very
different. Thomas had an artistic talent. He spent his early career as an
heraldic and coach painter. He became a member of the Royal Academy but found
it hard to establish himself even though he exhibited over thirty works,
paintings and illustrations at The Royal Academy between 1772 and 1784.
In 1785 he
decided to try his luck in India. He got permission to travel to India from The
East India Company. He took with him, as his assistant, his young sixteen year
old nephew William Daniell. William Daniell had been born in 1769 and also
resided in the Swan Inn in Chertsey, his father taking over the tenancy from
Thomas’s father. The two left from Gravesend on the 7th April 1785
and they arrived in Calcutta in early 1786.Thomas kept a detailed journal of
their time in India and it is through this journal that we can follow their
tours and know exactly where they were on given dates.
Thomas
immediately took an advertisement out in The Calcutta Chronicle. It stated his
intention to publish a set of views of the city created by etching and
aquatint.. He completed twelve plates. Selling prints from these plates
provided Thomas and William with the money to set out and tour India.
In September
1788 the Daniells toured Northern India setting out by boat along the Ganges.
They set off initially for Murshidababd and went on to Bhagalpur where they
stayed for a while with Samuel Davis of the East India Company. They then went
on to Kanpur and then overland to Delhi visiting Agra, Fatehpur, Sikri and
Mathura. The following April they went to Srinager. Uttarkhand and on to
Gharwal in the Himalayas. They sketched and painted temples, palaces, tombs and
the scenery wherever they went. They held a lottery in Calcutta for their
finished work. The fact the lottery raised enough money for their further
exploits shows that their work was admired and its importance recognised.
People were prepared to buy lottery tickets knowing they only had a small
chance of obtaining one of the original pictures. The Darnell’s must have held an exhibition of
their work for all the people buying the lottery tickets to see the paintings.
They used the funds to tour south.
By February
1792 the Daniells were back in Calcutta. On the 10th March 1792 the
Daniells left Calcutta once more for Madras which they reached on the 29th
March. They hired servants and then followed the route of the British Army the
year before. The British had defeated Tipu Sultan. By January 1793 they were
back in Madras.
A final tour
took Thomas and William through Western India from Madras to Bombay. They
eventually left India in May 1793 and arrived back in England in September
1794.
William Daniell
Once back in
England their main priority was to publish acquatint prints of their paintings
of India. William worked extremely hard and worked for the next seven years
from 6am in the morning to midnight perfecting his techniques. The Daniell’s
great work, “Oriental Scenery,” was
eventually published between 1795 and 1805.They consisted of one hundred and
forty four coloured acquatints and six uncoloured title pages. The cost of one
set was £210. The publication was a success both financially and artistically.
Thirty sets were sold to The East India Company and there was a further order
of eighteen. Some of the acquatints were based on the drawings of James Wales
showing the Caves of Ellora. Each plate was etched by the two Daniells, uncle
and nephew.
Much of the
buildings they painted in India were those of the Mughal Empire which was
situated in northern and central India. The Mughal emperors brought together
Persian, Indian and local designs. They were a Muslim nation who followed
Islam. Muhammed was their profit and their lives were governed by the Quran. Human,, animal and living things could not be
represented in art or architecture. This had not been written in the Quran but
the Muslim worlds contact through war and trade with the Christian world with
its art and architecture considered western art forms idolatrous to the thinking
of Muslims. With this clash of cultures Islam formed its rules against the
portrayal of living things. The architecture, the Daniells painted, comprised of
mostly holy places such as mosques and royal palaces, the great buildings of
the Mughal Empire which reflected these beliefs. Their architecture encompassed
intricate, geometrical design that intrinsically was not influenced by living
nature. However it is easy to see leaf and plant forms in many examples of Muslim
architecture. Whether this is accidental or intentional I am not sure. Architecture
was put to practical uses and the needs of the people. It was influenced by the
landscape and climate. Intricately designed
latticed stone screens created spaces and allowed air to flow through to cool
the space. They wanted large spacious prayer halls in their mosques so that
large groups of people could gather. The idea of domes to provide roofs over
these large spaces was formed. Domes are also good for circulating air so
helping to keep the space below cool. Minarets were constructed so that mullahs
could send their prayers and their call to prayer out to the surrounding world.
In the 18th century, nothing like this had been seen before.
Architecture, whether western or eastern, modern or ancient always has a
purpose.
One
particular building the Daniell’s painted and has become the epitome of Persian
and northern Indian architecture is the Taj Mahal. They were probably amongst
the first western artists to draw and paint it. It was created by the Shah Jahan
I the first half of the 17th century. This period marked the
emergence of Persian architecture in India. The use of the double dome,
recessed horse shoe shaped archways, a perfect symmetry and balance between the
different parts of the building and the setting within formal gardens. These features,
portrayed in the Daniell’s paintings were to have an influence not imagined by
the Mughals in India.
A painting by Thomas Daniell.
The Daniell’s
hard work and efforts were a great achievement. They showed Indian architecture
to the England of the 18th century. They played no small part in the
west’s understanding of the east. However their work was also bastardised and
misused. George IV as Prince Regent had a holiday home in Brighton. He was
extravagant, indulgent and indifferent to the opinions of others. In 1787, the
architect Henry Holland extended the original lodging house the prince used, into a neoclassical building
called the Marine Pavilion.George was a lover of French decorative art but also
Chinoiserie, a style influenced by China. The captains of tea clippers often
brought examples of furniture and pottery from china along with their cargo of
tea. The style took off in 18th century England and George was a
great advocate. He employed Crace, the
firm of interior decorators to furnish his marine pavilion with Chinoiserie. At
about the same time George had the magnificent stables next to the pavilion,
built in the Indian style of architecture and designed by William Porden. The
stables dwarfed the Marine Pavilion. George turned his attention once more to
pavilion. He wanted to build a new pavilion. He chose the architect John Nash
who proposed an Indian style to match the stables complex. Nash was also
influenced by Humphrey Repton who had ideas for a formal Indian garden. Of
course the illustrated book of Indian Architecture, “Oriental Scenery,” by
Thomas and William Daniell had been published at that time too. Nash plundered
ideas from their book. He was provided with all the design ideas he needed.
The Taj Mahal by Thomas Daniell.
If you study
the Royal Pavilion at Brighton today you can see how the Daniell’’s paintings
influenced the design. Many of the features of the pavilion can be seen in the
Taj Mahal. There are domes covering spacious areas beneath. A number of minarets
are interspersed between the domes. The surfaces are covered by intricate
geometric designs, some of them plant like. Latticed stone archways create
shaded cool spaces along one side of the pavilion. Latticed balconies and symmetrically
arched windows adorn the outside. However,in the case of the Brighton Pavilion the large spaces the domes surmount
were used for profligate activities. In identical spaces in Indian mosques prayers would be intoned. At Brighton lavish, gluttonous feasts would be held, brandy
and wine fueled balls would take place and women lusted after by misogynistic men.
Where the call to prayer at the top of Indian minarets was intoned at Brighton the smoke from coal
fires, warming the Royal Pavilion, poured out into the atmosphere. The contrast between the two purposes was stark. 18th
century England discovered many cultural elements of the east but it is
not sure they understood or empathised.
The rear of The Royal pavilion Brighton.
The surrounding gardens originally designed by Humphrey Repton.
There are some
dire consequences and dangerous resonances today caused by our inability to understand and empathise with other cultures. The fear
caused is palpable.
References:
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