William Carpenter (painter)

William Carpenter
The Tomb of Aurangzeb at Khuldabad, Aurangabad - 1850s by Carpenter
Born	c.1818 London, England
Died	1899 London
Nationality	British
Other names	Watercolors of India in the 1850s
Education	Royal Academy
Occupation	artist
Parent(s)	William Hookham Carpenter and Margaret Carpenter (Geddes)

William Carpenter (1818–1899) was a watercolour artist. He travelled for six or seven years in the 1850s painting scenes of India, its people and its life. The Victoria and Albert Museum bought over 280 of his paintings. In 1856 he painted Prince Fakhr-ud Din Mirza, the eldest son of Bahadur Shah II, the last King of Delhi, five months before the Prince died.

William Carpenter was born in about 1818. He was the eldest son of William Hookham Carpenter and his wife, Margaret Carpenter (born Geddes). His father was a keeper at the British Museum and his mother was a noted portrait artist. William entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1835. He initially painted with oils but quickly took to water colour.

William followed his brother abroad in the early 1850s and painted in India for some years. Other British painters, such as Johann Zoffany and Ozias Humphrey, were travelling in India too. Carpenter kept no diary, however his large collection of dated watercolour paintings allows his journey to be recreated. He travelled overland through Egypt and arrived in Bombay in June 1850. Almost immediately he travelled to Poona where others were escaping the heat in the mountains. By the time he returned to Bombay in about December he had painted a school in the old Maratha Palace and views of the Shaniwar Palace. He saw the new year in whilst visiting Salsette Island, after he had spent Christmas Day painting Mount Mary's Basilica at Bandra. His paintings included a view of the Mahim Causeway which had recently been built to join Salsette island to the mainland.