Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming Hindoo Temple, Jubblepore (Jabalpur)

Bunyan Bungalows on the Mahaweli Ganga Signed, inscribed and dated l.r.: Bunyan Bungalows & Stone/on the Mahamilla (Mahaweli) Ganga/C.F.Gordon Cumming/Feb/ 4th./1874, further inscribed with notes and signed by: Tom Gray, Sarah Gray, Henry J.M. Coall, Henry A. Claremont, Evan Knighttonce, watercolour over pencil 39 x 62 cm.; 15 3/8 x 24 ¼ inches The Mahaweli is Sri Lanka’s longest river,’which, rising near Adam’s Peak, wanders through the mountains untill it reaches Kandy, the mountain capital, whence, descending to the plains, it travels northwards, a total distance of 134 miles, and finally enters the sea by several branches near Trincomalee, Two Happy Years in Ceylon, p. 102.

Bit of the snowy range from Yakko, Simla Inscribed and dated l.r.: Bit of the snowy Range/from Yakko-/Simla/69, pencil 26 x 36.2 cm.; 10 ¼ x 14 ¼ inches The artist, an intrepid mountaineer, noted her disappointment at the optical scale of this mountain range in her book In the Himalayas. She wrote of how ‘we had expected to find ourselves close to the snows’ and yet saw, ‘peaks of glittering snow, which seem only like crested waves on the sea-line.’ Nevertheless ‘after a while we learned to know and love each line of that picture,’ In the Himalayas, p 299.

Sunset with the Allegalla and Kaduganawa Peaks from Bellongalla, Bellgodde, Kornegalle Hills Inscribed l.r.: Allegalla and Kaduganawa Peaks from Bellongalla./Bellgodde. Kornegalle Hills, and further inscribed: coffee and with colour notes, watercolour over pencil 35.5 x 50.5 cm.; 14 x 19 ¾ inches The artist stayed with Bessie Farr, whom she met on her journey to Ceylon, who was travelling to her future husband Tom Farr. They lived at Oolanakanda, ‘perched very high on the majestic Allegalla Peak, at the foot of a mighty crag, and overlooking a billowy sea of mountain ranges. …from there we could see in the far distance the other great mountain of Ceylon… “Adam’s Peak”, but to the Singhalese ..the “Sri-Pada’, Memories, pp. 211-212. Bellongalla is west of Kandy, the site of Sri Lanka’s first tea estate.

Selsdon Park, near Croydon Signed, inscribed and dated l.r.: Selsdon Park/C.F.G.C./1864, watercolour over pencil 35.1 x 50.5 cm.; 13 ¾ x 19 ¾ inches The house was owned by the Smith banking family from 1809 - 1877. George Smith (1765-1836) and his wife Frances, née Moseley, had fifteen children. Frances (1832 - 1922), the daughter of their second son, Oswald, married Claude, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (1824 - 1904) in 1853; they were the paternal grand parents of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The artist may have been introduced to Selsdon Park through this Scottish connection. Selsdon Park still stands, although it was significantly altered around 100 years ago, when it was converted into an hotel.

Kurunégala from the top of the Rock Signed, inscribed and dated l.r.: Kurunégala from the top of the Rock/C.F Gordon Cumming./April 18th 1874/Nalunde Hills/Rock Temple/Yakdessa Gala/Devil Dancers Rock/140, and signed by three others including G.J. Julungalle (?), watercolour over pencil 29 x 66.5 cm.; 11 3/8 x 26 ¼ inches Kurunegalla, 58 miles north east of Colombo, was Sri Lanka’s capital from 1293 to 1341, and the site of an extensive royal complex, which included the palace of the tooth relic. The town and lake lie at the base of a large red rock shaped like a giant beetle, three miles long. The countryside is a mixture of paddy fields and palms. Plumbago mining (an historic name for graphite) took place here.

Badulla from Allugollehella, alias Castle Cumming Signed, inscribed and dated l.r.: Badulla from Allugollehella/alias Castle Cumming/Namamakuli Kanda Range/CFGC-/Aug. 25th 73 and signed by James Whittaker Gibson, watercolour over pencil ‘Badulla, the capital of Uva, a very pretty little town in the midst of a grassy and well-wooded and well-watered plain, about 2,200 feet above the sea-level, and surrounded on every side by fine hills of very varied form. There is a considerable amount of rice culture round the town, which seems like an island crested with cocoa-palms rising from a sea of velvety green’, Two Happy Years, p. 335. Badulla is in southern central Sri Lanka.

The Rock of Gibraltar and the Sierra Nevada Inscribed and dated l.r.: Rock of Gibraltar and /The Sierra Nevada/Nov. 1868/C.F.G.C., watercolour over pencil with touches of white 22.7 x 53.3 cm.; 9 x 21 inches

Kandy Railway passing Kaduganawa Signed, inscribed and date l.r.: Kandy Railway passing Kaduganawa/Allegalla Peak-/Turret Rock in the distance./looking S.W./July 26.73/CFG.C. and also signed by Bessie Farr, Thomas Farr and H. Williamson, watercolour over pencil 35.5 x 50.5 cm.; 14 x 19 ¾ inches The artist met Bessie Farr on the voyage out to Ceylon and spent time with her and her husband Tom at their home at Oolanakanda. She wrote that ‘perched at the base of the mighty crag which crowns Allagalla Peak, that home was in a sheltered nook embosomed in fruit-trees, and overlooking such a magnificent view as we may sometimes obtain for a few moments by climbing some mighty Alp, but which few homes can claim as their perpetual outlook’, Two Happy Years, p. 159. The view of the train from their house ‘labouring on its tortuous up-hill course, winding round the steep hillside. It was so far below us that it seemed like a fairy’s toy’. Alagalla Peak is the highest point of the Alagalla Mountain Range, standing at almost 4,000 feet, on the rail route from Colombo to Kandy, in southern Sri Lanka. Eka Gordon-Cumming took this single broad-gauge line train line in the spring of 1874, noting that the uniform gradient while rounding the flank of Alagalla was one in forty five. She spent some time in the area before moving on to Kandy, enjoying ‘happy days and weeks spent exploring many a lovely corner in that vast panorama’.

Watercolour over pencil 36.5 x 57.5 cm.; 14 ½ x 22 ¾ inches This is a study for a larger watercolour of this subject, which formed part of this collection and is now in the British Library. Adam’s Peak is about 85 miles east of Colombo.

Bridge of Boats and Old Fort, Benares Inscribed and dated l.l.: Bridge of boats and/old Fort-/Benares-/Nov. 20th, watercolour and pencil 17 x 35 cm.; 6 ¾ x 13 ¾ inches In this work, drawn on the spot at Benares, now Varanasi, the Hindu holy city on the banks of the Ganges, a colossal sculpture can be seen on the steps of an old fort. Across the river boats have been lined up and firmly anchored, so that planks can be laid across them to provide passageway for people, carts and carriages, In the Himalayas, p108.