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Description: | Pencil and watercolour heightened with touches of body colour on paper. Cows bask in the sun in the foreground of this view of the Governor's House in Colombo. The image is thought to represent the former house of Dutch Official, Captain Sluyskens, built in 1864. It later became the house of Frederick North, the first British Governor of Ceylon.
The Dutch controlled Ceylon (excluding the kingdom of Kandy) from 1660 and had a monopoly on the export of the cinnamon grown on the island and control of the major sea ports. After failed negotiations, the English East India Company decided to take Ceylon by force and by 1815 the entire island was under the Company’s control. It remained under British rule until 1948. In 1972, Sri Lanka became a Republic.
This watercolour of the Governor's House was purchased in 2009 from the sale of the collection at Glin Castle, West Limerick, compiled by scholar and former Curator of Furniture at the Victoria and Albert Museum Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin. | Rights holder: | © Christie's Images Limited [2009] (photograph) | Subjects: | palm topography tree landscape C19th path government building cow tiled roof | Temporal: | 1846-1849; 1846/1849 | Source: | Government Art Collection | Creator: | Andrew Nicholl | Identifier: | http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?... | Go to resource |
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