James Baillie Fraser

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Portrait by William Brockedon (1833)

James Baillie Fraser (11 June 1783 – 23 January 1856) was a Scottish travel writer, and artist who illustrated and wrote about Asia Minor, Iran, Kurdistan[1] and India. Some of his watercolours made in the picturesque style represent early views of India and Persia.

He was a brother of William Fraser.[2]

Early life

James was born at Reelig in the county of Inverness. He was the eldest of five sons[3] of Edward Satchel Fraser (1751–1835) and his wife Jane. He grew up on the family estate and studied under a tutor in Edinburgh. He lived from 1799 to 1811 in Guiana to oversee the sugar plantations that they owned in Berbice. He returned from the West Indies in 1806 due to ill health. All of his brothers travelled in the East and had successful careers.[4]

India

Jumnotree, the source of the River Jumna (1820)

James' father had mortgaged the family estate to buy the sugar plantation in the West Indies. When sugar prices collapsed due to overproduction, they mortgaged the plantation and soon ran into debts. In early 1813 James set sail for India, hoping to set up a trade business in Calcutta to help pay off the family debts.

Ganga. James found that he was not good with human figures and decided to learn from portraits made of Gurkhas by the native artists (especially one named Lalljee) employed by his brother. In 1820 several of these aquatints were printed as Views in the Himala Mountains.[3]

In 1816 James returned to Calcutta and joined a partner in shipping business. He also took more interest in art and worked with professional artists

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, a sister of the historian Patrick Fraser Tytler.[4]

Persia

Russian moves in Turkey caused fears in Britain around 1833 and

Persia .In June 1836 Fraser was appointed escort officer or mehmāndār to the three Qajar princes, Rezaqholi Mirza, Teymur Mirza, and Najafqholi Mirza, who had come to London to seek help and protection from the British government.[6] He also accompanied them on their return until Constantinople. He managed to enter and sketch mosques and Persian shrines which no European had entered before.[7] During this period he travelled extensively on horseback but his health was impaired by the exposure.[8] Based on these travels he wrote several historic novels and romances.[4]

He died without children at his estate in Reelick on 23 January 1856.

Art and writing

Calcutta
in 1819 by R Havell, Jr. based on James Baillie Fraser.

Fraser displayed great skill with watercolours, and several of his drawings were lithographically reproduced. Most of his landscapes are considered "picturesque".[3] The astronomical observations which he took during some of his journeys did considerable service to the cartography of Asia. The works by which he attained his literary reputation were accounts of his travels and fictitious tales illustrative of Eastern life. In both he employed a vigorous and impassioned style which was on the whole wonderfully effective in spite of minor faults in taste and flaws in structure.[9]

Fraser's earliest writings are: Journal of a Tour through Part of the Himala Mountains and to the Sources of the Jumna and the Ganges (1820); A Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan in the Years 1821 and 1822, including some Account of the Countries to the North-East of Persia (1825); and Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea (1826). His romances include The Kuzzilbash, a Tale of Khorasan (1828), and its sequel The Persian Adventurer (1830); Allee Neemroo (1842); and The Dark Falcon (1844). He also wrote An Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia (1834); A Winter's Journey (Tâtar,) from Constantinople to Teheran (1838); Travels in Koordistan, Mesopotamia, etc. (1840) Mesopotamia and Assyria (1842); and Military Memoirs of Col.

James Skinner (1851).[9]

References

  1. ^ Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  2. William Dalrymple, The forgotten masterpieces of Indian art
    , Spectator UK, 18 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e Falk, Toby (1988). "The Fraser Company Drawings". RSA Journal. 137 (5389): 27–37.
  4. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10111. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  5. ^ Welch, Stuart Cary. "Art and Culture 1300-1900". New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 95. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Wright, Denis. "Fraser James Baillie". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  7. JSTOR 4299948
    .
  8. JSTOR 4299911
    .
  9. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fraser, James Baillie". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 39.

External links

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