Thomas Daniell

Thomas Daniell was born in 1749 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. His father was the landlord of the Swan Inn at Chertsey (where he was later succeeded by Thomas' elder brother William and his wife Sarah). Thomas began his career apprenticed to an heraldic painter and worked at Maxwell's the coach painter in Queen Street before attending the Royal Academy Schools. Although he exhibited 30 works – mainly landscapes and floral pieces – at the Academy between 1772 and 1784, Daniell found it difficult to establish himself as a landscape painter in Britain. Like many other Europeans at that time, Daniell was drawn to India by stories of the wealth and fame that awaited travellers to the newly accessible East, and in 1784 he obtained permission from the East India Company to travel to Calcutta to work as an engraver, accompanied by his nephew, William Daniell, as his assistant. ==India==

, Concluding a Treaty in 1790 in Durbar with the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire (1805) , Bihar, 1811 , 1827 Thomas and William Daniell sailed from Gravesend on 7 April 1785, arriving in Calcutta via Whampoa in China early in 1786. In November of that year Daniell wrote to Ozias Humphrey "I was obliged to stand Painter Engraver Copper-smith Printer and Printers Devil myself. It was a devilish undertaking but I was determined to see it through at all events." A briefer third tour took them through western India. They left Madras in the middle of February 1793 and reached Bombay the following month. In May 1793 the Daniells left India and returned to England, reaching home in September 1794. ==Return to England==

On his return to England, Daniell set about publishing an extensive illustrated work under the general heading title of "Oriental Scenery". There were 144 plates in total including a set published as ''Twenty-four landscapes, views in Hindoostan drawn and engraved by Thomas and William Daniell, with permission respectfully dedicated to the Rt.Hon. George O'Brien, Earl of Egremont'', first published on 1January 1804. The Daniells also published Views in Egypt (1808–9) and Picturesque Voyage to India, by Way of China (1810). His paintings of Sezincote are rare exceptions to the Indian subjects which comprise almost his complete output after his return to England having outlived both his nephews. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. == Gallery ==

File:Old Court House and Writers Building1786.jpg|Old Court House and Writers' Building, Calcutta (1786) File:Sambhal Jama Masjid wash drawing.jpg| Sambhal Jama Masjid, wash drawing by Thomas Daniell & William Daniell, 1789 File:Daniell Benares.jpg|Shivala Ghat, Benares, 1789 File:Daniell Hindu temples.jpg|Hindu temples on the river at Jumna, India, 1795 File:Remains of buildings at Firoze Shah Kotla, Delhi.jpg|Feroz Shah Kotla remains, Delhi, Aquatint, 1795, later reproduced on a Staffordshire earthenware dish c. 1810–20 File:Thomas Daniell - The Rope Bridge at Serinagur - Google Art Project.jpg| The Rope Bridge at Serinagur, c. 1800 File:Daniell Taje Mahel3.JPG|Taj Mahal, 1801 File:Thomas-Daniell-Mountain-of-Ellora-3.jpg|Mountain of Ellora, 1803 File:Das Avatara, by Thomas Daniell and James Wales, 1803.jpeg|Dasavatara cave, Ellora, 1803 File:Thomas Daniell - The Indian Rhinoceros - Google Art Project.jpg|The Indian Rhinoceros File:Viswakarma by Thomas Daniell and James Wales, pub 1803.jpg|Viswakarma, Ellora, a chaitya worship hall built around 650 CE, by Thomas Daniell and James Wales, 1803 File:Daniells1808a.jpg|The Observatory at Delhi, 1808 File:Thomas Daniell - Jami Masjid, Delhi - Google Art Project.jpg|Jami Masjid, Delhi, 1811 File:A man overboard.jpg|A man overboard. Drawing by Thomas Daniell & William Daniell, 1810 ==See also==