Red Fort, New Delhi 

Hercules Brabazon Brabazon made this watercolor and pencil study of the Red Fort in Delhi, sometime in the late 19th century. Notice how Brabazon applied the watercolor in transparent washes, allowing the paper to breathe through. This wasn't unusual for British landscape painters, and the technique also has a longer history in textile design, specifically the resist-dyeing process of batik. That’s relevant here because Brabazon’s loose, suggestive technique is more about capturing an impression than documenting hard facts. He seems as interested in the play of light on the sandstone, and the feel of the air, as he is in the architecture. Think of how different this is from the precise, measured drawings that the British East India Company used to record their territorial acquisitions. Brabazon, by contrast, gives us a sense of wonder. His artistic choice wasn’t just aesthetic, but also conveyed a personal interpretation of the place and its history. It bridges the gap between objective representation and subjective experience.