Open full image Pin

East View of The Forts Jellali & Merani, Muscat

William RA Daniell

1793

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Romanticism 18th Century Cityscape

Dominant colour

East View of The Forts Jellali & Merani, Muscat is a 1793 watercolor by William RA Daniell, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: William RA Daniell
When & what style?: 1793 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

William Daniell painted *East View of The Forts Jellali & Merani, Muscat* in 1793. It’s a watercolour, small but full of details. This was made during a long trip his uncle planned through India. Few Europeans artists went to Muscat back then. The Daniells almost left by ship but stayed awhile when war news changed their plans. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum next.

The story of this work

Overview

William Daniell’s 1793 depiction captures the harbor of Muscat, framed by the sixteenth-century Portuguese fortresses Jellali and Merani, which once guarded key trade routes to Lisbon. The scene reflects the strategic importance of the forts during the Portuguese attempts to control the spice trade, following their establishment of a sea route via the Cape of Good Hope after 1500. Few European artists visited Muscat at the time, making such representations of the harbor and its fortifications relatively uncommon. The work, later exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1831, stems from sketches made…

Read the full account in the museum source.