A Gate Leading to a Mosque at Chunargarh, Uttar Pradesh

Our sale on 11 June 2025, includes two fine watercolours by Thomas Daniell, one depicting A Gate Leading to a Mosque at Chunargarh, Uttar Pradesh (Lot 122), and Hindu Temples at Agori, Uttar Pradesh (Lot 123). Of the former, the artist wrote in his journal:

‘The effect of this gate, at a distance, is grand, from the bold projection of its superior parts; and its ornaments, though numerous, are applied with so much art and discretion, as to form the happiest union of beauty and grandeur’.

The two travelled throughout India between 1786 and 1793, journeying northward from Bengal and Bihar to Delhi, and then southward to Madras and Bombay, returning to England via Peking when war broke out between England and France. During their travels, they produced hundreds of drawings and watercolours that they later transformed into aquatints and published in a six-volume series called Oriental Scenery, of which one is offered here alongside its aquatint reproduction (Lot 124). The series, and above all the images, are invaluable for presenting an early glimpse of a place and culture that were largely unknown to the British public up until then.

The Portraits of Arthur William Devis

Another influential figure in the Anglo-Indian art world was Arthur William Devis, who led an adventurous life after his appointment as ‘Draftsman by a private committee of the East India Company to pursue a voyage around the world’, surviving arrow wounds in New Guinea and a shipwreck off the Palau Islands in the Pacific. His portraits of Calcutta society were highly admired, especially his portrayals of children. ‘Devis paints most delightfully, I think, especially small figures in which I like his handling and colouring even better than Zoffany's’ wrote Superintendent of the Free School William Baille in 1793. His sketches made during the autopsy of Lord Nelson on board the H.M.S. Victory on the return from Trafalgar were used in his painting The Death of Nelson and went some way in creating the posthumous cult of the famous Admiral. His Double Portrait of Two Boys, One Pointing to India on a Globe: A Double Portrait of Two Boys, Practicing Archery sold at Dreweatts for £125,000. 

Colin Shakespeare

Included in the upcoming auction is his dandyish Portrait of Colin Shakespeare (Lot 127), dated to around 1790, at the time of the latter’s appointment to the Bengal civil service. He is shown in a relaxed pose, beneath a Banyan tree – an evocative, trademark feature of Devis’ portraits. Like many of his pictures, the landscape, identified here as the Governor-General’s Park at Barrackpore, is rich in atmosphere and romance.

Both artists are central to our understanding of the culture of colonial India and confirm Dreweatts’ leading role in the market for this genre. To discuss how Dreweatts can advise you, or get a free auction valuation, please contact the Dreweatts Old Master, British and European Art department.

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Auction Details

11 June 2025, 10.30am BST
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

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VIEWING IN LONDON (HIGHLIGHTS)
Tuesday 27 May: 10am-4pm
Wednesday 28 May: 10am-4pm
Thursday 29 May: 10am-4pm

VIEWING IN NEWBURY (FULL SALE)
Sunday 8 June: 10am-3pm
Monday 9 June: 10am-4pm
Tuesday 10 June: 10am-4pm

FURTHER INFORMATION: 
General enquiries: + 44 (0) 1635 553 553 | pictures@dreweatts.com
Press enquiries: press@dreweatts.com