The George Keyt Foundation and British High Commission are hosting a two-day exhibition featuring rare artworks by British artists who documented Ceylon during the 1800s, offering historical perspectives on how the island was perceived and represented during the colonial period.
A curated exhibition opening this week will present a collection of oil paintings, watercolours, and lithographs created by British artists throughout the 19th century, providing visual documentation of how Ceylon was understood and portrayed during that era. Organized by the George Keyt Foundation and the British High Commission, the show runs on July 31st and August 1st at Westminster House in Colombo and offers free entry to registered visitors.
The collection traces the evolution of artistic representation across the century, beginning with Henry Salt's precisely rendered 1809 depiction of Point de Galle and continuing through works by established topographical artists such as Samuel Daniell, whose detailed natural-history illustrations from 1808 are recognized as significant examples from the Regency period. As British colonial expansion progressed inland, subsequent artists including Lieutenant William Thomas Lyttleton and Captain John Deschamps documented newly accessible regions, with their aquatints capturing Kandy, the western coast, and various settlements. Captain Charles O'Brien's later works accompanied Sir J.E. Tennent's influential book on Ceylon, illustrating landscapes and plantations throughout the island.
The exhibition notably includes Edward Lear, the celebrated literary figure known for his nonsense poetry, who produced over seventy landscape drawings and watercolours during a brief 1874 visit. The collection also features Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming, the exhibition's only female artist, whose vivid and personal works from the 1870s reflect her daily sketching practice and later travel writings. Together, these artworks document landscapes, architecture, flora, fauna, and inhabitants while simultaneously revealing the perspectives, assumptions, and power structures embedded in colonial-era representations.
The George Keyt Foundation has released an accompanying 200-page publication featuring nearly 100 illustrations, available at Rs. 6,000 through August 1st and Rs. 7,500 thereafter. The exhibition encourages viewers to engage critically with this artistic legacy, recognizing both the historical value of these visual records and the ideologies they reflect.
