Bombay Harbour

This is one of a sequence of paintings which depicts the journey by boat across the Mumbai harbour to the Panvel jetty, then to Kapoli, up the Bhor Ghat to Lonavla and onwards to Pune.The artist painted his scenes rapidly in a limited range of vivid colours while halting en route. Here, the River Panvel estuary is shown from harbour. Funnell hill, right of centre, was formerly a major landmark for ships entering the harbour.

Charles Harcourt Chambers was knighted by George III while practising at the bar in England and was appointed a judge of the new Supreme Court in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1823. He was a keen amateur artist during the five years that he was in the city and regularly painted studies of the nearby countryside.