Add Or 1909-1910

Add.Or.1909-1910

2 drawings of the Taj Mahal, Agra.

By a Delhi or Agra artist, c.1808.

Purchased 11 November 1961 from the collection of Sir Henry Russell.

Note: Sir Henry Russell, 2nd Baronet (1763-1852), was in India from 1798 to 1820. While it is possible that he acquired these drawings himself, it seems more likely that they came to him along with the collection of Thomas Daniell, purchased sometime between 1840 and 1848. After acquisition, the collection was mounted by him in a uniform style (see the introduction to the Thomas and William Daniell drawings). The drawings in question are not part of a standard set but appear to be early attempts to record a subject which interested the British. It is possible that the Daniells collected these drawings while on their tour of northern India from 1788 to 1791 but it is more probable that they acquired them in England from friends returning from India in the early years of the nineteenth century. A number of such drawings, some with 1811 water-marks and belonging to the Daniells, reached the Royal Institute of British Architects with the Crace collection. The Daniells appear to have built up a small collection of Indian architectural drawings after their return to England probably because they found them of great use when making their oil-paintings of Indian scenes.