Cotton cultivation in India
Painting
1862 (made)
1862 (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. In 1859, the London publishing firm William Day and Son commissioned Simpson to visit India and make drawings for a book illustrating well-known places associated with the so-called ‘Indian mutiny’ of 1857, when the Indian army rose 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 painting depicts women engaged in harvesting cotton, probably in Rajasthan in north-west India. Cotton is known to have been harvested in India from the second millennium BC. For the Greeks and Romans it was a highly prized luxury fabric, which they imported from India in large quantities. Printed and painted cotton fabric was subsequently a major part of trade with south-east Asia and from the 1660s onwards large quantities of chintz – printed cotton with a glazed finish – were exported to Europe.
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 painting depicts women engaged in harvesting cotton, probably in Rajasthan in north-west India. Cotton is known to have been harvested in India from the second millennium BC. For the Greeks and Romans it was a highly prized luxury fabric, which they imported from India in large quantities. Printed and painted cotton fabric was subsequently a major part of trade with south-east Asia and from the 1660s onwards large quantities of chintz – printed cotton with a glazed finish – were exported to Europe.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Cotton cultivation in India (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Watercolour on paper |
Brief description | Painting of Cotton cultivation in India, by William Simpson, pencil and watercolour on paper, London, 1862 |
Physical description | Painting of cotton cultivation in India. It shows a vast cotton plantation surrounded by indigenous dwellings. Local women, dressed in a traditional skirt and blouse with a dupatta (long scarf) over their head, collect the cotton bolls in cloth bundles attached to their waist. In the background, a farmer ploughs the land using oxen. |
Dimensions |
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Marks and inscriptions | Cotton cultivation in India. Wm. Simpson 1862. |
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). |
Subject 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. In 1859, the London publishing firm William Day and Son commissioned Simpson to visit India and make drawings for a book illustrating well-known places associated with the so-called ‘Indian mutiny’ of 1857, when the Indian army rose 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 painting depicts women engaged in harvesting cotton, probably in Rajasthan in north-west India. Cotton is known to have been harvested in India from the second millennium BC. For the Greeks and Romans it was a highly prized luxury fabric, which they imported from India in large quantities. Printed and painted cotton fabric was subsequently a major part of trade with south-east Asia and from the 1660s onwards large quantities of chintz – printed cotton with a glazed finish – were exported to Europe. |
Bibliographic reference | Registered File number RF/1869/6716 |
Collection | |
Accession number | 1161-1869 |
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Record created | January 24, 2003 |
Record URL |
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