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Lot 21

 

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This bucolic forest scene is a fine example of the work of English classical landscape artist and printmaker, William Daniell. Daniell was born in Surrey in 1769 and after his father's death in 1779, moved in with his uncle Thomas, a landscape artist himself who inspired and mentored Daniell. Between 1786 and 1794, Daniell accompanied his uncle to India as his assistant in making preparatory drawings and sketches for a series of prints that... This bucolic forest scene is a fine example of the work of English classical landscape artist and printmaker, William Daniell. Daniell was born in Surrey in 1769 and after his father's death in 1779, moved in with his uncle Thomas, a landscape artist himself who inspired and mentored Daniell. Between 1786 and 1794, Daniell accompanied his uncle to India as his assistant in making preparatory drawings and sketches for a series of prints that Thomas was working on. Together they collaborated on Oriental Scenery, a monumental six-volume work of 144 hand-coloured aquatint engravings, selected from those made during their years in India.

The Daniells' picturesque scenes of India, which included famous buildings and pilgrimage sites, set a precedent that resulted in the Company style of painting in the 18th and 19th centuries. The moniker was borrowed from the British East India Company, whose expanding presence on the subcontinent created a demand for paintings and illustrations of the native landscape that they could send back as records of their time in the country. "It was thus a time of colonial takeover, but also a time of discovery of the exotic, and it defi ned how India was seen by painters such as Thomas and William Daniell." (Roland Steff an, "A picturesque journey through India 1786-1794," The Newsletter, No. 61, Autumn 2012, Leiden: International Institute for Asian Studies, online)

Almost a decade after his return to England, Daniell embarked on a journey of the British coastline painting watercolours for his greatest book yet-A Voyage Round Great Britain. Soon after, in 1822, "William Daniell was elected a Royal Academician on the strength of his oil paintings, but his principal living was made from publishing aquatints after watercolour views of British sites." (Matthew Hargraves, Great British Watercolors, New Haven: Yale University, 2007, online) Daniell's versatility as an artist is evident in his mastery over all three media.

The present lot, an oil on canvas titled Deer in a Wooded Landscape, was most likely painted between 1827 and 1830 when he became extremely interested in the scenery around Windsor and Eton. In 1827, 1828 and 1830, he exhibited a total of five oil paintings of Windsor Castle at Royal Academy exhibitions, and it is possible that the present lot was exhibited in 1828 with the title View in Windsor Park, near Bishopsgate. With its focus on nature and wilderness, the present lot demonstrates characteristics of Romanticism, which was the zeitgeist of early 19th century European art. Daniell's oil paintings from this period are considered to be among his finest.

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