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Description: | Pen and ink drawing, by Sir Charles D'Oyly (1781-1845), of an encampment at Bishnupur in Bengal, from an album of 80 drawings of views in Bengal and Bihar taken between January 1823 and May 1825. Bishnupur, the former capital of the Malla rulers of Bengal, is famous for its terracotta temples and a ruined fort with stone entrance gateways. This image is from the largest group of drawings in the album, consisting of sketches made between 26 January and 27 February 1823 during a journey from Calcutta to Gaya (Bihar) along the 'New Military Road'. This road passed through Manbhum district (Bihar) to Hazaribagh (Bihar) and through the hills to the N.W. to join the present Grand Trunk Road near Sherghati (Gaya district, Bihar). Begun in 1782, it had semaphore signalling towers built along it in the early years of the 19th century.
D'Oyly arrived in India in 1797 and spent his first few years in Calcutta as Assistant to the Registrar of the Court of Appeal. He was Collector of Dacca from 1808-18 and was made Opium Agent at Patna in 1821. Whilst at Dacca he met the artist George Chinnery and became his pupil from 1808-12. D'Oyly was a prolific amateur artist who was greatly admired by the European community. He set up and ran a lithographic press, the 'Behar Lithography', and also formed an amateur art society the 'United Patna and Gaya Society' or 'Behar School of Athens': 'for the promotion of Arts and Sciences and for the circulation of fun and merriment of all descriptions.' | License: | http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permission.html | Rights holder: | British Library | Source: | Collect Britain | Creator: | D'Oyly, Sir Charles (1781-1845) | Identifier: | http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personal... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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