28-699: The Kathiawar Agency , on the Kathiawar peninsula in the western part of the Indian subcontinent, was a political unit of some 200 small princely states under the suzerainty of the Bombay Presidency of British India . The agency's headquarters were at Rajkot , the town where the Political Agent used to reside. He reported to the Political Department office at Bombay , Bombay Presidency . The agency
56-523: A South Shields collier to become a sailor. In 1808 he was pressed into the Royal Navy , serving in the guardship HMS Namur at Sheerness . Discharged on health grounds in 1814, he then made a voyage to China in 1815 on the East Indiaman Warley and returned with many sketches. An accident forced Stanfield to leave active service, but during his voyages he had acquired considerable skill as
84-874: A draughtsman. In August 1816 Stanfield was engaged as a decorator and scene-painter at the Royalty Theatre in Wellclose Square, London. Along with David Roberts he was afterwards employed at the Coburg Theatre in Lambeth , and in 1823 he became a resident scene-painter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane , where he rose rapidly to fame through the huge quantity of spectacular scenery and (moving) dioramas which he produced for that house until 1834. Stanfield abandoned scenery painting after Christmas 1834, though he made exceptions for two personal friends: he designed scenery for
112-478: A nineteenth-century anticipation of cinema. Stanfield and Roberts produced eight of these entertainments; in light of their later accomplishments as marine painters, their panoramas of two important naval engagements, the Bombardment of Algiers and The Battle of Navarino, are worth noting. An 1830 tour through Germany and Italy furnished Stanfield with material for two more moving panoramas, The Military Pass of
140-667: A premium of 50 guineas . He was elected Associate Member of the Royal Academy in 1832, and became a full Academician in February 1835. His elevation was in part a result of the interest of William IV who, having admired his St. Michael's Mount at the Academy in 1831 (now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia), commissioned two works from him of The Opening of New London Bridge (1832) and Portsmouth Harbour . Both remain in
168-501: Is a peninsula , near the far north of India 's west coast, of about 61,000 km (23,500 sq mi) bordering the Arabian Sea . It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat in the east. In the northeast, it is connected to the rest of Gujarat and borders on the low, fertile hinterland of Ahmedabad . It is crossed by two belts of hill country and
196-485: Is drained radially by nine rivers which have little natural flow aside from in monsoon months, thus dams have been built on some of these. Kathiawar ports have been flourishing centres of trade and commerce since at least the 16th century. The name Kathiawad seems to have been derived from the early settlements of Kathikas or Kathis who entered Gujarat from Sindh in early centuries of the Common Era . The state of
224-442: Is said to have been an accomplished artist, but died in 1801. His father remarried, to Maria Kell, a year later. Stanfield was named after Thomas Clarkson , the slave trade abolitionist , whom his father knew, and this was the only forename he used, although there is reason to believe Frederick was a second one. He was briefly apprenticed to a coach decorator in 1806, but left owing to the drunkenness of his master's wife and joined
252-482: The 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne , the other for the Duchess of Sutherland at Trentham Park, Staffordshire . Neither house survives but some of Stanfield's work for Bowood can still be seen there (the present Bowood House and park, open to the public, is a conversion of the old stable block). He illustrated Heath's Picturesque Annuals for the years 1832–34, and in 1838 published a collection of lithographic views on
280-659: The Rhine , Moselle and Meuse ; forty subjects from both sides of the English Channel were also steel-engraved under the title of Stanfield's Coast Scenery (1836). Among literary works for which he provided illustrations were Captain Marryat's The Pirate and the Three Cutters (1836), Poor Jack (1840) and the lives and works of Lord Byron , George Crabbe , and Samuel Johnson , mainly in editions by John Murray . Stanfield's art
308-452: The 1850s, both the children of his first marriage (to Mary Hutchinson, who had died in childbirth). His eldest surviving son, George Clarkson Stanfield (1828–78) was also a painter of similar subjects, largely trained by his father. Another son, Francis Stanfield (1835–1914) was an English Catholic priest who is noted for having composed several notable hymns. His daughter Harriet married W. H. G. Bagshawe, son of Henry Bagshawe , and
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#1732852810544336-634: The British, the Gaekwar of Baroda and the nawab of Junagadh ), was 70,000 rupees. An excellent system of metre-gauge railways was built at the cost of the leading states. Maritime trade was also very active, the chief ports being Porbandar, Mangrol and Veraval . In 1903–1904 the total seaborne exports were valued at 1,300,000 rupees, and the imports at 1,120,000. 22°18′N 70°48′E / 22.300°N 70.800°E / 22.300; 70.800 Kathiawar Kathiawar ( [kɑʈʰijɑʋɑɽ] )
364-565: The Royal Collection. Until his death he contributed a long series of powerful and highly popular works to the Academy, both of marine subjects and landscapes from his travels at home and in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Ireland. Notable works include: He also executed two notable series of Venetian subjects, one for the former dining room at Bowood House, Wiltshire , for
392-600: The Simplon (1830) and Venice and Its Adjacent Islands (1831). Stanfield executed the first in only eleven days; it earned him a fee of £300. The Venetian panorama of the next year was 300 feet long and 20 high; gas lit, it unrolled through 15 or 20 minutes. The show included stage props and even singing gondoliers. After the show closed, portions of the work were re-used in productions of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Otway's Venice Preserved . The moving panoramas of Stanfield and other artists became highlights of
420-537: The affairs of the princely states on behalf of the Governor-General ) was at Rajkot , in the centre of the peninsula; this was also the site of the Rajkumar College, Rajkot , where many of the sons of the rulers were educated. There was a similar school for girasias , or chiefs of lower rank, at Gondal . The estimated gross revenue of the several states was 1,278,000 rupees in 1911; total tribute (payable to
448-451: The inaugural Royal Academy Winter Exhibition. In its appraisal of the show, The Times wrote: "There are no English painters whose works have won wider and warmer popularity outside the artistic pale. Stanfield's practiced command of the artist of composition, his unerring sense of the agreeable and picturesque in subject and effect, his pleasant and cheerful color and last, not least, the large use to which he turned his knowledge and love of
476-534: The last remaining Asiatic lion population. Other national parks in Kathiawar are Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar on the Gulf of Cambay, and Marine National Park, Gulf of Kutch , near Jamnagar. Clarkson Frederick Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield RA RBA (3 December 1793 – 18 May 1867) was a prominent English painter (often inaccurately credited as William Clarkson Stanfield ) who
504-429: The most affectionate, the most loving and the most lovable of men. Success had never for an instant spoiled him . . . He had been a sailor once; and all the best characteristics that are popularly attributed to sailors, being his, and being in him refined by the influence of his Art, formed a whole not likely to be often seen." In 1870, three years after his death, Stanfield was awarded a major retrospective of his work at
532-681: The region in the early nineteenth century is shown in Letitia Elizabeth Landon 's poetical illustration, "Scene in Kattiawar", to an engraving of a painting by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield . The natural vegetation on most of the peninsula is xeric scrub . A range of low hills known as the Gir Hills occupies the south-central portion of the peninsula. The highest of these is Girnar . The hills are home to an enclave of tropical dry broadleaf forest . Gir National Park and its surroundings host
560-416: The rest were to varying degrees under British administration. The eight states of the first class were Bhavnagar State , Dhrangadhra State , Gondal State , Jafarabad State , Junagadh State , Morvi State , Nawanagar State , and Porbandar State . The agency covered an area of 20,882 square miles (54,080 km), and in 1901 the population was 2,329,196. The headquarters of the political agent (who oversaw
588-549: The sea and clouds of a very high order and called him the "leader of our English Realists." Wishing him to be sometimes "less wonderful and more terrible," Ruskin also pointed out the superior merits of his sketched work, especially in watercolour, to the often contrived picturesque qualities of many of his exhibited oils and the watercolours on which published engravings were based. In his last 10 years, Stanfield's health deteriorated. He died in Hampstead , London, on 18 May 1867; there
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#1732852810544616-476: The sea and shipping… (all) added to the widespread admiration he had won by his consummately skillful scene painting, (and) combined to make him one of the most popular, if not the most popular, of landscape painters." Stanfield was admired not only for his art but his personal simplicity and a modesty. He was born a Catholic and became increasingly devout in middle life, after the loss in 1838 of his eldest son by his second marriage (to Rebecca Adcock) and then, in
644-477: The stage productions of William Charles Macready , and for the amateur theatricals of Charles Dickens . Stanfield partnered with David Roberts in several large-scale diorama and panorama projects in the 1820s and 1830s. The newest development in these popular entertainments was the "moving diorama" or "moving panorama." These consisted of huge paintings that unfolded upon rollers like giant scrolls; they were supplemented with sound and lighting effects to create
672-637: The traditional Christmas pantomimes . Meanwhile, Stanfield developed his skills as an easel painter, especially of marine subjects; he first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1820 and continued, with only a few early interruptions, to his death. He was also a founder member of the Society of British Artists (from 1824) and its president for 1829, and exhibited there and at the British Institution, where in 1828 his picture Wreckers off Fort Rouge gained
700-499: Was an unfinished painting on his easel and a previous work, A Skirmish off Heligoland, hanging in a Royal Academy exhibition. He was buried in Kensal Green Catholic Cemetery . Lifelong friend of Stanfield, the writer Charles Dickens , was one of the last visitors that Stanfield saw on the day he died. After Stanfield's death, Dickens wrote: "He was the soul of frankness, generosity and simplicity. The most genial,
728-485: Was best known for his large-scale paintings of dramatic marine subjects and landscapes. He was the father of the painter George Clarkson Stanfield and the composer Francis Stanfield . Stanfield was born in Sunderland , the son of James Field Stanfield (1749–1824) an Irish-born author, actor and former seaman, and Mary Hoad, an artist and actress. Stanfield was likely to have inherited artistic talent from his mother, who
756-667: Was formed in 1822, after the princely states in the area became British protectorates . The region was severely affected by the famine of 1899–1900. Between 1891 and 1901, the population of the states covered by the Agency decreased by 15 per cent, largely due to the results of the famine. On 10 October 1924, the agency was abolished and merged into the Western India States Agency , which had three subdivisions: There were altogether 193 states of varying size and importance, of which fourteen exercised independent jurisdiction, while
784-498: Was powerfully influenced by his early practice as a scene-painter. But, though there is always a touch of the spectacular and the scenic in his works, and though their colour is apt to be rather dry and hard, they are large and effective in handling, powerful in their treatment of broad atmospheric effects and telling in composition, and they evince the most complete knowledge of the artistic materials with which their painter deals. The art critic John Ruskin considered his treatment of
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