Untitled (A Figure by a Ruined Building with a Minaret, Bengal, India)

A prolific English artist, George Chinnery is known to have enjoyed sketching daily, making quick notes with pencil in shorthand, using the ‘Gurney’ system learnt from his father, who was a professional shorthand writer in London. This allowed him to take copious notes on his outdoor excursions, which he would then develop into formal paintings in his studio. Evidently, it was a fruitful exercise as the details of a ruined mosque and its environs in this particular watercolour suggest. The reclining figure in white and blue seems at peace in the serenity of the place.