William Daniell - Lottery Proceeds

Lottery Proceeds

Thomas and William Daniell were back in Calcutta at the end of 1791. They held a lottery of their completed work, using the proceeds to fund a tour to the South. Since the Third Mysore War was in progress, the Daniells suspected that a market existed among the British for oil paintings and drawings of the areas in which the conflict was taking place. They duly visited various hill-forts on their way south, as well as the huge and richly carved temples at Madurai, Mamallapuram and Rameswaram. Once back in Madras they held another lottery of their work and set off on a tour to western India. On their arrival in Bombay in March 1793 they met James Wales (1747–95), then busy drawing the area’s cave temples. He took them to Elephanta, Karli and Kanheri among other places.

In September 1794 the Daniells returned to England. Over the period 1784 to 1794 William kept a detailed diary of their travels. This is now in the British Library. After 1794 he no longer kept a diary and so, unfortunately, we have no information in his own hand about the rest of his life. The Royal Academician, Joseph Farington, himself a landscape painter and topographical draughtsman, kept a diary from 1793 until he died in 1821.

The Daniells were close friends of Farington. John Garvey has gone through the diary and extracted glimpses of William’s private life and of his artistic work. The diaries are almost the only written record we have of the life of William Daniell.

In 1794, William and his uncle set up house at 37 Howland Street, Fitzroy Square. Their first priority was to publish a selection of their paintings of India. The views that were selected were made into aquatint prints, calling upon William’s skills in this delicate medium. These skills were hard earned. Farington records in his diary that William had informed him that on his return to England he spent the next seven years working from six in the morning until midnight perfecting his aquatinting techniques.