Directories
> Misc Directories
 Dictionary of Indian Biography (Buckland) |
|
 Dictionary of Indian Biography G to I
| Date transcribed | 2011-04-00 | | Transcribed by | Peter Bailey | | Comment | Note that notables of Indian, Afghan, etc. origin do not always follow the alphabetical name pattern established by Buckland in his original work. |
| | Surnames | Gill | | | First Name(s) | Robert | | | Year of Birth | ? | | | Year of Death | 1875 | | | Entry | Major : antiquary, artist and sportsman : entered the Indian Army in 1842 : his regimental service was apparently uneventful : he is remembered for his work, as follows. In 1844, the Court of Directors of the E.I. Co. ordered that copies should be made of the frescoes in the Buddhist excavations at Ajanta : Gill was appointed about 1844-6 to the work, and spent the remainder of his life, about thirty years, at Ajanta, doing it : living in the sarai in which Colonel (Sir) Arthur Wellesley (q.v.) had quarters after Assaye. With great labour, Gill, working in feverish jungle, and in dark recesses (haunted by wild animals), copied in full size and oils the principal frescoes, about thirty in number, and sent them to England, about 1855. Of these paintings, twenty-five, exhibited at the Crystal Palace, were burnt in 1866 : five at the India office escaped : some of those burnt had been copied by George Scharf to illustrate the works of Mrs. Manning. The Ajanta frescoes were again copied, under Government orders, in 1872-85 by Mr. John Griffiths, Principal of the Bombay School of Art : and the results were published, 1896. Other drawings by Gill, i.e., of ground plans of the caves, and architectural details, are still preserved : he was also an expert photographer, as shown in his two books, viz. The Rock-cut Temples of India, illustrated by his 74 photographs, 1864 : and One Hundred Stereoscopic Illustrations of Architecture and Natural History in W. India, 1864, both books with descriptions by J. Fergusson {q.v.). Gill, as a sportsman, killed above 150 tigers, mostly on foot, his name being well known for his prowess for nearly half a century : he died while being conveyed, very ill, from Ajanta to Bhosawal, where he was buried. |
| |
<< first
< previous
next >
last >>
|
|
A List of eminent persons who served in British India, together with short biographical notes of each
|
Search Births & Baptisms
text size
