Garden-House in a Village near Baroche, in Guzerat
Description
Line engraving by Bate, after a 1778 drawing by James Forbes
Published in Forbes’ Oriental Memoirs: Selected and Abridged from a Series of Familiar Letters Written during Seventeen Years’ Residence in India, Vol. 2, fig. 11, London, 1813
James Forbes was the Collector of Baroche [Bharuch] and Dhuboy [Dabhoi] in the late 1770s. He had a beautiful villa and extensive gardens on the banks of the Narmada where he lived for seven years. ‘Garden houses’, or large villas set on extensive grounds, permitted greater circulation of air, which was believed to reduce the incidence of disease in hot climates. Forbes’ own garden house was about a mile from the west gate of the city of Bharuch. He wrote: “Drawing to me had the same charm as music to the soul of harmony.” This pastime filled many solitary hours while he was “endeavouring to investigate the manners and customs of the inhabitants, to study the natural history, and delineate the principal places and picturesque scenery which I visited”.
His Oriental Memoirs were based on a series of letters from India and the contents of about 150 notebooks, which returned to England with him and were vividly illustrated with engravings from his original sketches.
Gift of Pauline and Roy Rohatgi
Collection
Prints, Drawings and Photographs
Artist
James Forbes (1749–1819)
Object Type
Material
paper, ink
Schools/Culture/Period
--
Technique
Engraving
Date
1813
Location
London
Dimension
22 x 25 cms