William SimpsonBritish, 1823–1899Taj Mahal Viewed from the Garden
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Taj Mahal Viewed from the Garden” now? Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Not on view at present. Checked September 25, 2026.
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
William Simpson was born in Glasgow in 1823. At the age of 14 he joined a printing firm, where he learned the art of lithography and was subsequently employed to make a visual record of the Crimean War. In 1859, the publishing firm of William Day and Son commissioned Simpson to visit India and make drawings for a book illustrating well-known places associated with the 1857 uprising of the Indian army against their British officers.
Read on
Thus began Simpson’s long connection with India and the first of four visits over the next 25 years. He saw Upper India, the Himalayas, central, southern and western India, and he took an interest in a great range of subjects, making numerous rapid pencil drawings in sketchbooks, often heightened with colour washes. Many formed preparatory studies for his finished watercolours, most of which he worked up after returning to London. But unfortunately, during his absence, Day and Son had experienced financial problems and in 1867 they went into liquidation. Two years later, 250 of his watercolours were sold as bankrupt stock – ‘the big disaster of my life’, as he put it.
This picture shows the Taj Mahal, built in Agra in northern India between 1631 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The monument is seen from the garden, with Europeans and malis (gardeners) in the foreground and flowerpots much in evidence.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Details
- Accession number
- 1130-1869
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
