A watercolour of a scene in Lucknow: an elderly Indian man is seated on the ground, with a small girl and boy just behind him; with part of a balustrade to the left, and a mosque in the distance. 

This tranquil scene drawn from the life is in stark contrast to the violent events which had only recently ended when this watercolour was produced. Lucknow, capital of the state of Oudh (present day Awadh), was the site of a major conflict between Indian soldiers and several regiments of the British army during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Simmering resentment at the annexation of the state, and disdainful treatment by the colonial rulers, sparked a prolonged siege of the British residency within the city, which was eventually relieved and evacuated with huge loss of life.

Egron Lundgren's five hundred Indian watercolours and drawings were produced on his journey to and from the subcontinent and during his time there between 1858 and 1859. Travelling with the British Army to Awadh, he represented the unrest and conflict during the Indian Rebellion against British colonial rule. Other watercolours in the series presented scenes of daily life.  

This is a watercolour from the Indian Sketches album comprising watercolours and drawings by Egron Lundgren, Nicholas Chevalier, Count Gotz Burkhard Seckendorff and Robert Gosset Woodthorpe. Lundgren's works are set against a backdrop of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and were presented to Queen Victoria. Chevalier's watercolours represent high-ranking Sikh and Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) people who would have sat to the artist during his visits to India and Ceylon while journeying with Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, on the homeward voyage aboard HMS Galatea in 1870.