Taj Mahal Viewed from the Garden thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Taj Mahal Viewed from the Garden

Painting
1864 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

William Simpson was born in Glasgow in 1823. At the age of 14 he joined a printing firm, where he learned the art of lithography and was subsequently employed to make a visual record of the Crimean War. In 1859, the publishing firm of William Day and Son commissioned Simpson to visit India and make drawings for a book illustrating well-known places associated with the 1857 uprising of the Indian army against their British officers.

Thus began Simpson’s long connection with India and the first of four visits over the next 25 years. He saw Upper India, the Himalayas, central, southern and western India, and he took an interest in a great range of subjects, making numerous rapid pencil drawings in sketchbooks, often heightened with colour washes. Many formed preparatory studies for his finished watercolours, most of which he worked up after returning to London. But unfortunately, during his absence, Day and Son had experienced financial problems and in 1867 they went into liquidation. Two years later, 250 of his watercolours were sold as bankrupt stock – ‘the big disaster of my life’, as he put it.

This picture shows the Taj Mahal, built in Agra in northern India between 1631 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The monument is seen from the garden, with Europeans and malis (gardeners) in the foreground and flowerpots much in evidence.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleTaj Mahal Viewed from the Garden (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on paper
Brief description
Painting of the Taj Mahal from the Garden, Agra by William Simpson, waterolour on paper, India, 1864.
Physical description
Painting of the Taj Mahal, Agra, viewed from the garden. The remarkable white marble mausoleum is partially covered by the foliage in the middle-ground. In the foreground, local gardeners work on landscaping the Mughal gardens. On the right, two European women walk along the reflecting pool.
Dimensions
  • Height: 360cm
  • Width: 52.2cm
Marks and inscriptions
The Taj, Agra. Wm. Simpson. 1864.
Gallery label
Simpson managed to depict this, the most famous of India's monuments, in an appropriately romantic light, surrounded by trees, brilliant blue sky and reflections in the pool. The Taj Mahal was built between 1631 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal.(1/12/2008)
Credit line
Purchased from Messrs Day and Son Ltd (London) in 1869
Object history
Simpson, William (1823-1899). Painter and lithographer. Simpson was apprenticed to a lithographer in Glasgow and in 1851 came to London where he made views of the Great Exhibition. He became well known for his paintings with commissions by Queen Victoria to paint various important events in her reign. In 1859 the publishers, Day and Son, commissioned him to make drawings of India. On his return he produced "India, ancient and modern" (London, 1867), a series of illustrations of the country and its people. Later in 1876, he accompanied the Prince of Wales to India and published "Shikare and Tomasha, a souvenir of the visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to India" (London, 1876).
Place depicted
Summary
William Simpson was born in Glasgow in 1823. At the age of 14 he joined a printing firm, where he learned the art of lithography and was subsequently employed to make a visual record of the Crimean War. In 1859, the publishing firm of William Day and Son commissioned Simpson to visit India and make drawings for a book illustrating well-known places associated with the 1857 uprising of the Indian army against their British officers.

Thus began Simpson’s long connection with India and the first of four visits over the next 25 years. He saw Upper India, the Himalayas, central, southern and western India, and he took an interest in a great range of subjects, making numerous rapid pencil drawings in sketchbooks, often heightened with colour washes. Many formed preparatory studies for his finished watercolours, most of which he worked up after returning to London. But unfortunately, during his absence, Day and Son had experienced financial problems and in 1867 they went into liquidation. Two years later, 250 of his watercolours were sold as bankrupt stock – ‘the big disaster of my life’, as he put it.

This picture shows the Taj Mahal, built in Agra in northern India between 1631 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The monument is seen from the garden, with Europeans and malis (gardeners) in the foreground and flowerpots much in evidence.
Bibliographic reference
Patel, Divia; Rohatgi, Pauline and Godrej, Pheroza, "Indian Life and Landscape by Western Artists: an exhibition of paintings and drawings from the 17th to the early 20th century organised by the V&A and CSMVS". Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai and Victoria and Albert Museum, 2008, ISBN:81-901020-8-7 p. 71 Registered File number RF/1869/6716
Collection
Accession number
1130-1869

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Record createdJanuary 15, 2003
Record URL
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