Time Traveller Bombay, 1826

Gifted colonial painters like the Daniells are justly famous, but there were so many more. A loyal reader brought the work of Robert Melville Grindlay (1786-1877) to our notice. His lushly produced albumScenery, Costumes and Architecture chiefly on the Western Side of Indiawhich was issued in six parts between 1826 and 1830, comprises 36 colour plates done by Grindlay and a few other artists, including the renowned landscape painter William Westall, who was one of the first English artists to work in Australia.

Grindlay, a self-taught amateur artist, went to India in 1803, aged 17, as a cadet in the East India Companys military service, a position to which his London merchant father had him nominated. He served from 1804 to 1820 and in this period made an impressive number of sketches and drawings depicting daily life and scenery in India. For an amateur painter, Grindlay displays great virtuosity and an eye for detail, as can be witnessed in this mildly busy scene behind the St Thomas Cathedral in Bombay. The cathedral, which lends its name to the nearby Churchgate Station, was rather new when the scene was painted.

Grindlay became a captain in 1817 but retired on half-pay in 1820 and returned home. In 1828, he started an agency house in London with a partner, Leslie. The partner left after two years but the agency prospered, offering the booking of sea passages to India and allied services. It gradually expanded, eventually becoming the banking empire we know as Grindlays. Grindlays had a long reign before being absorbed by Standard Chartered Bank in 2000.