Untitled [Set of 4 prints on Bombay]
a) T Edge after William Westall, A.R.A.
The Great Triad in the Cave Temple of Elephanta (or The Great God in the Cave Temple of Elephanta)
1830
Coloured aquatint on laid paper
Image Size: 9.25 x 11.2 in (23.5 x 28.5 cm)
Sheet Size: 11.8 x 12.5 in (30 x 32 cm)
At the heart of the cave’s interior, this scene focuses on the iconic Sadashiva Trimurti relief carved into the rock. The triple-faced effigy, seven meters high, presides over a subdued assemblage of devotees whose small stature underscores its monumental presence. Light filters into the cavern, gently illuminating the faces and the crisp relief modelling.
The composition strikes a balance between interior drama and architectural stillness. The framing rock columns and shadow depths draw the viewer’s gaze to the central deity. The technique of aquatint permits subtle tonal shifts that suggest the cave’s atmospheric depth while also recording the austere sense of scale.
Symbolically, the Trimurti embodies Shiva’s tripartite roles (creator, preserver, and destroyer) and was one of the prime visual touchstones for British viewers aiming to grasp Indian religious iconography. In colonial visual discourse, such a print would have functioned as both a scientific “record” and a romantic marvel.
b) Engraved by T Fielding and coloured by J B Hogarth after William Westall, A.R.A.
Approach of the Monsoon, Bombay Harbour
1830
Coloured aquatint on laid paper
Image Size: 9.25 x 11.2 in (23.5 x 28.5 cm)
Sheet Size: 11.8 x 12.5 in (30 x 32 cm)
This evocative coastal view captures the monsoon’s approach to Bombay (Mumbai) from the vantage of the harbour. The artist casts a dramatic sky, tinged with atmospheric pressure and incoming storm clouds, while the calm water surface subtly reflects the changing mood. The harbour, low-lying land, and distant hills anchor the composition, and a solitary figure or fortification (if present) grounds the human element against nature’s sweep.
The aquatint treatment emphasises tonal gradation—light to dark—and gives a painterly softness to the forms of land, sea, and sky. As part of the Scenery, Costumes and Architecture series, this plate testifies to the early 19th-century British European interest in visual documentation of Indian urban and natural landscapes.
The juxtaposition of serene foreground and tempestuous sky alludes to India’s dual character of calm and volatility—a trope commonly embraced by colonial visual narratives.
c) S G Hughes after William Westall, A.R.A.
Entrance of the Great Cave Temple of Elephanta near Bombay
1830
Coloured aquatint on laid paper
Image Size: 9.25 x 11.2 in (23.5 x 28.5 cm)
Sheet Size: 11.8 x 12.5 in (30 x 32 cm)
This print presents the portal and vestibule of Elephanta’s Great Cave, framed by rugged cliff faces and overhanging foliage. Columns and rock faces are depicted with delicate fidelity, the interplay of light and shadow inviting the viewer inward. The carved relief panels — visible to the right — hint at the sculptural richness beyond the threshold.
The scene balances architectural clarity and romantic atmosphere: the stone forms are rendered with discipline, while soft shading and nuanced transitions evoke the cave’s internal mystery. The presence of small human figures offers scale and heightens the monumentality of the rock-cut hall.
In the context of colonial-era visual culture, this plate participates in a spectacle of revelation: revealing ancient Hindu sanctuaries to a European readership, it frames Indian antiquity as a subject of study and fascination.
d) J Baily after William Westall, A.R.A.
Interior of the Great Cave Temple of Elephanta near Bombay
1830
Coloured aquatint on laid paper
Image Size: 9.25 x 11.2 in (23.5 x 28.5 cm)
Sheet Size: 11.8 x 12.5 in (30 x 32 cm)
This finely coloured aquatint presents the hypostyle hall of the Great Cave (Cave 1) at Elephanta (Gharapuri), with its robust square-section columns, pendant ceiling rosettes and colossal dvarapalas flanking the subsidiary sanctuaries. Westall’s drawing—made on site in 1803—was later engraved by J Bailey for Captain Robert Melville Grindlay’s ambitious publication, Scenery, Costumes, and Architecture Chiefly on the Western Side of India , one of the most influential pictorial surveys of western India issued in London in 1826–30.
The composition uses small staffage figures to calibrate scale and to heighten the solemn vastness of the rock-cut interior. The aquatint’s tonal range—soft browns and greys lifted by hand colour—conveys both archaeological clarity and the romantic atmosphere prized by early nineteenth-century British viewers. Issued alongside companion views of the cave entrance and the Great Triad (Trimurti), the plate helped shape European understanding of Elephanta as a masterpiece of early Hindu monumental art.
BOMBAY HARBOUR AND ELEPHANTA: FOUR AQUATINT VIEWS BY WILLIAM WESTALL, A.R.A.
In the early nineteenth century, Bombay emerged as both a thriving maritime hub and a gateway to the antiquities of western India. Few artists captured this dual identity with greater sensitivity than William Westall, A.R.A. (1781–1850), who travelled to India in 1803 as official draughtsman aboard the Investigator. His drawings, later engraved in London for Captain Robert Melville Grindlay’s monumental publication Scenery, Costumes and Architecture chiefly on the Western Side of India (1826–30), transformed the lived encounter with Bombay and Elephanta into works of enduring visual record and romantic imagination.
The four aquatints offered here trace a natural and cultural itinerary. The journey begins at sea with Approach of the Monsoon, Bombay Harbour, where a charged sky signals the annual arrival of rains. The drama of nature dominates the scene, yet the distant outlines of Bombay island anchor the viewer in a place of commerce, vulnerability, and colonial aspiration.
From the turbulent horizon, the viewer is led inland to The Entrance of the Great Cave Temple of Elephanta, a view that frames the cliff-cut façade, its shadowed colonnade and relief panels partially visible beneath the foliage. Human figures lend both scale and narrative, suggesting discovery, reverence, and the drama of first approach.
Within, The Interior of the Great Cave Temple of Elephanta depicts the hypostyle hall with its massive columns, ceiling rosettes, and colossal guardians. Westall’s aquatint technique, with its soft tonal transitions, communicates the cool dimness of the cavernous space while retaining archaeological clarity. The viewer is invited to stand in awe, as did the small staffage figures dwarfed by the architecture.
The sequence culminates in The Great Triad (Trimurti) in the Cave Temple of Elephanta, the celebrated seven-metre relief of Shiva with three aspects — creator, preserver, destroyer. This image, central to European understanding of Indian religion in the early nineteenth century, crystallised the Western perception of Elephanta as both a sublime monument and a locus of Hindu divinity.
Taken together, the four prints embody the composite ambition of Grindlay’s project: to document India’s landscapes, antiquities, and customs with fidelity, while also imbuing them with the romantic atmosphere sought by a metropolitan audience. They belong to a moment when India’s heritage was being actively catalogued, sketched, engraved, and circulated across Europe — an act at once antiquarian and imperial.
For collectors today, Westall’s Bombay and Elephanta sequence stands not only as a record of place and time but also as a meditation on nature, monumentality, and the sacred. The drama of monsoon skies, the solemn geometry of rock-cut interiors, and the timeless visage of Shiva together form a visual testament to India’s enduring ability to inspire awe and reverence across cultures.
(Set of four)
These prints will be shipped unframed.
NON-EXPORTABLE
This lot is offered at RESERVE
This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each print.