Thomas Daniell RA (1749 – 1840)

• Was an English painter.
• Born in 1749 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.
• His father was the landlord of the Swan Inn at Chertsey.
• Thomas began his career apprenticed to an heraldic painter and worked at Maxwell's the coach painter in Queen Street before attending the Royal Academy Schools.
• In 1784 he obtained permission from the East India Company to travel to Calcutta to work as an engraver, accompanied by his nephew, William Daniell, as his assistant.
• Arriving in Calcutta via Whampoa in China early in 1786.

• He spent seven years in India with his nephew, and they traveled and worked a lot throughout India.

• In May 1793 he left India and returned to England, reaching home in September 1794.

• On his return to England, Thomas with William set about publishing an extensive illustrated work under the general heading title of "Oriental Scenery".

• The Daniells also published Views in Egypt (1808–9) and Picturesque Voyage to India, by Way of China (1810).

• They etched all the plates themselves, almost all in aquatint.

• He was elected a Royal Academician in 1790, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts at around the same time.

• Daniell never married.

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