Thomas Daniell
Encyclopedia
Thomas Daniell was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 landscape painter
Landscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...

.

Life

Thomas Daniell was born in 1749 at the Chertsey
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...

 inn, kept by his father, and was apprenticed to an heraldic painter. Daniell, however, was animated with a love of the romantic and beautiful in architecture and nature. Up to 1784, he painted topographical subjects and flower pieces. By this time, his two nephews had come under his influence, the younger, Samuel
Samuel Daniell
Samuel Daniell was an English painter of natural history and other scenes in Africa and Ceylon.- Life :...

, being apprenticed to the landscape engraver Thomas Medland
Thomas Medland
Thomas Medland was an English engraver and draughtsman. He was drawing-master at Haileybury College and exhibited at the Royal Academy. He illustrated numerous works during his lifetime and was landscape engraver to HRH the Prince of Wales....

, and the elder, William, being under his own care. In this year (1784), he embarked for India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 accompanied by William Daniell
William Daniell
William Daniell RA was an English landscape and marine painter, and engraver. He travelled extensively in the Far East, helping to produce one of the finest illustrated volumes of the period - "Oriental Scenery". He also travelled around the coastline of Britain to paint watercolours for the...

, and found at Calcutta ample encouragement. He stayed there for ten years, and on returning to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

  published his largest work, Oriental Scenery, in six large volumes, not completed until 1808. From 1795 until 1828, he continued to exhibit Eastern subjects, temples, jungle hunts etc., and at the same time continued the publication of illustrated works. These are Views of Calcutta; Oriental Scenery, 144 plates; Views in Egypt; Excavations at Ellora; Picturesque Voyage to China. These were, for the most part, executed in aquatint.

He was elected a Royal Academician in 1790, fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...

 about the same time, and at different times was a member of several minor societies. His nephews both died before him. His Indian period had made him independent, and he lived a bachelor life at Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...

till his death.

External links

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