Samuel Daniell

With Spink & Son, London, by 1973,

sale, London, Christie’s, 16 July 1974, lot 135;

Colin Hunter (1929-2016),

his sale, 11 July 1991, lot 91, unsold,

by family descent to the present owner  

London, Spink, Samuel Daniell: Drawings & Prints, 1973, no. 16

M. Stevenson, Samuel Daniell, An Enigmatic life in Southern Africa and Ceylon, 1799-1811, Johannesburg & Cape Town 2025, pp. 249, 470 & 488, A.61, fig. 8.28

This rare and beautiful drawing was made by Samuel Daniell - from life - when he was living in South Africa between late 1799 and early 1803. Daniell was the younger brother of William Daniell, and nephew of Thomas Daniell, both of whom had achieved fame as a result of their travels in India between 1786 and 1793 and, in particular, through their magnificent series of aquatint engravings that were published after their return to London. 

Quite probably inspired by his kinsmen's success, Samuel Daniell set sail for Cape Town in early 1799 with the hope that he too might be in a position to produce a similarly popular publication after his return home. He arrived in December of that year and to ‘make ends meet’ he took up a position as under-secretary to Sir George Yonge, 5^th Bt, the newly installed Governor, who had arrived on the same ship. Daniell, whose talents as an aspiring artist were soon recognised, travelled extensively during his time in South Africa, firstly, between April 1800 and March 1801, to the eastern frontier as part of an entourage led by Dr William Somerville and then secondly, between September 1801 and May 1802, to the far north, beyond the Orange River, with the 'Somerville-Truter expedition' which took him through lands that were very little known to Europeans.¹

The present drawing, although undated, is similar in appearance to a group of remarkable studies of people that Daniell made during this second expedition, while staying in the village of Kok’s Kraal on the Orange River in late February and early March 1802. See, for example, a pencil drawing of a young girl, dated 23 February 1802, in the Turnbull Library, New Zealand or his Korah Girl Seated, a graphite drawing heightened with watercolour, which is dated 14 March 1802 and is now in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.²

For further information on Samuel Daniell’s time in South Africa please see: M. Stevenson, Samuel Daniell, An Enigmatic Life in Southern Africa and Ceylon 1799-1811 (2025).

^1.The Truter–Somerville Expedition was led by Petrus Johannes Truter and William Somerville and was commissioned by the Cape Governor to gather geographic, political, and trade information.

^2.M. Stevenson, op. cit., pp. 324 & 479, cat. no. K22, fig. 10.37 and Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, acc. no. B1975.4.870