Beschreibung:

THOMAS DANIELL (1749-1840) and WILLIAM DANIELL (1769-1837) Oriental Scenery , First Series. London: 1795 [watermarked J.Whatman 1794]. Large 2° (55.2 x 74cm.) Engraved vignette title printed in brown ink, 24 hand-coloured aquatints by Thomas Daniell numbered I-XXIV, without text. (Short marginal tears to 3 plates, light vertical crease and surface mottling to final plate.) Contemporary panelled diced russia, gilt (front cover detached, some wear at extremities). Provenance : Rev. William Long (bookplate). A fine copy of the first series of "the finest illustrated work ever published on India" (Tooley). The hand-coloured aquatints illustrate the travels through India by Thomas Daniell and his nephew William from 1786 to 1793. They began work on translating their on-site watercolours and sketches into the relatively new medium of aquatint immediately on their return to England, resulting in their monumental work Oriental Scenery . This work, strengthened by exhibitions of the Daniells' oil paintings at the Royal Academy and British Institution in London in the early 1800s, was instrumental in developing a new trend of an Indian aesthetic, particularly in architecture. Thomas Daniell designed an Indian temple for Sir John Osburne at Melchet, and Repton also designed in the Indian style influenced by Oriental Scenery . Although the plates include sites and views of interest at Bernares, Bahar, Allahabad, and the Ganges, the majority are of Delhi and her immedaite surrounding. Abbey Travel 420; Tooley 172.