Near Bandell on the River Hoogly. [caption title]

London.: Thomas Daniell.. January1804.. Aquatint with added handcolour on heavy paper, 46 x 60.4 cms (image); 51.3 x 68.6 cm (sheet including platemark); marginal soiling and rubbing, corners bumped, but a fine atmospheric impresssion in very good condition. Fine handcoloured aquatint from the large folio first edition of Thomas and William Daniell's "Oriental Scenery", published between 1795 and 1808, and rare on the market.

"The Daniells left England in 1785, when William was only about sixteen, and they were back in England in September 1794. From an early stage Thomas seems to have set out to emulate and surpass Hodges ["Select Views in India"]…in popularizing his views through the comparatively new medium of aquatint…the uncle and nephew were determined not only to do better than Hodges but to expose the weaknesses of the pioneer's work by choosing the same views as Hodges had done, drawing them more accurately, and aquatinting them more skilfully. The accuracy of the work was probably greatly aided, however, by the fact that Thomas and William used a camera obscura, particularly useful, of course, for architectural subjects… In time, William surpassed his uncle's skill in aquatinting, let alone that of Hodges, but at the cost, he told Farrington, of working from six in the morning till midnight for the first seven years after his return from India. It is certainly to William's work that Turner referred when, speaking of the plates for his "Liber Studiorum" he said that he would like to have them engraved like Mr. Daniell's." (Abbey, p.377). Bandel is a town in the Hooghly district of the Indian state of West Bengal. .