Part of the Ghaut at Hurdwar

Catalogue entry

[from] White's ‘Views in India’ pub.1836–7 [T05176-T05182; complete]

Seven line-engravings by various engravers, comprising all seven subjects; various papers and sizes; all except T05179 stamped with Turner studio blind stamp
Purchased (Grant-in-Aid) 1988
Prov: ...; N.W. Lott and H.J. Gerrish Ltd, from whom bt by Tate Gallery

Views in India Chiefly among the Himalaya Mountains by Lieut. George Francis White was first published in two volumes in 1836 and 1837, the first volume containing sixteen engraved plates, four of which were after Turner, and the second, fourteen, of which only three plates were designed by Turner. Views in India appears to have been reissued in a single volume in 1837 (although still dated 1836) and again in 1838, with a different text, edited by Emma Roberts. The editions were published by Fisher, Son and Co. in London and Paris. In 1845 White and Fisher again collaborated to publish Hindostan, the Shores of the Red Sea and the Himalaya Mountains, which contained many of the India illustrations, including all seven plates after Turner; Hindostan was reissued in 1848, edited by Emma Roberts. The seven Turner illustrations were again reproduced in the final volume of R. Montgomery Martin's three volume Indian Empire, published by the London Printing and Publishing Company around 1859.

A notice in the 1837 volume advertises proof sets of the plates, to be ‘furnished to Subscribers only in two Divisions, Imperial Quarto, first Proofs on India paper, bound and lettered, price £5.5s (or 50 rupees)’, hence the inscription ‘SUBSCRIBERS PROOF’ on the impressions of the first published state in this group.

Many of the artists and engravers employed to work on the series had earlier provided similar topographical views for Robert Elliot's Views in India, of 1835, on which White's Views in India was closely modelled. A wide variety of artists and engravers provided the illustrations for White's publication, many of whom were little known - Turner was certainly the most eminent artist employed. He produced seven out of the thirty plates for the book, using sketches by White (made during his tours in Mussooree in 1829–32) from which to develop his watercolour designs, since Turner had never visited India. Turner's watercolours were engraved by Thomas Higham (1796–1844), James Baylis Allen (1803–76), Edward Goodall (1795–1870), John Cousen (1804–80) and William Floyd (active 1832–59).

All but one of the plates in this group (T05179) are stamped with the Turner studio monogram stamp. It was customary for the artist to receive a set of engraver's proofs for himself but it is somewhat suprising that impressions such as these, which are all first or later states, should have found themselves in the artist's own collection.

Since the page numbering for the plates varies in the different editions, that for the earliest edition of 1836–7 is given under publication details, irrespective of the date of the actual print.

T05176 Part of the Ghaut at Hurdwar engr. T. Higham, pub. 1836

Line-engraving 124 × 189 (4 7/8 × 7 7/16) on India paper laid on wove paper 298 × 440 (11 3/4 × 17 15/16); plate-mark 219 × 292 (8 5/8 × 11 1/2)
Engraved inscriptions: ‘J.M.W. Turner. R.A.’ below image b.l., ‘T. Higham.’ below image b.r., ‘DRAWN FROM NATURE BY G.F. WHITE. ESQ.| Part of the Ghaut, at Hurdwar. | FISHER, SON & C^o. LONDON, & PARIS, 1836.’ below image at centre, ‘PLATE 4.’ below image lower left, ‘SUBSCRIBERS PROOF.’ below image lower right; Turner studio blind stamp below image at centre
Prov: Artist's sale, Christie's 24 April 1873 (in lots 298–338)
Lit: Rawlinson II 1913, no.606, first published state

Published: vol.I, 1836, p.30. Original watercolour: City Art Galleries, Leeds (Wilton 1979, no.1291). The title of this plate was altered to ‘Pilgrims at the Sacred Fair of Hurdwar’ when it was reprinted in Hindostan in 1845.

Published in:
Tate Gallery: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions 1986-88, London 1996

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