The Hot Spring at Sitacoon

1830

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Dominant colour

The Hot Spring at Sitacoon is a 1830 by Robert Captain Smith, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Robert Captain Smith
When & what style?: 1830 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

This sketch shows a group of people near a stone building with steps. One woman stands at the top, looking down. Two others sit near a small pool of water, while a man in robes helps a child. The building has a simple arched doorway and rough walls. The title says this is a "hot spring," so the water might be warm. The artist used quick, sketchy lines to show movement and life. Look up cross-hatching to see how artists create shading with lines.

The story of this work

Overview

The drawing depicts men bathing in a hot spring at Sitacoon. It is one of 65 detached and mounted pencil illustrations from a travel journal kept by Captain Robert Smith between 1828 and 1833, documenting voyages along the Ganges and visits to cities including Cawnpore, Delhi, Agra, and Lucknow. The work remained unpublished until Smith’s retirement in Ireland, where he continued refining the manuscript until 1845. The drawing was later acquired by the museum in 1915 from W. M. Biden of Hampton-on-Thames.

Read the full account in the museum source.