Artist
Henry Salt
(1780–1827)
Henry Salt was the first professionally trained British artist to draw Ceylon from life, arriving in 1802 as secretary and draughtsman to Viscount Valentia on a grand tour of the East. He had trained under the Royal Academicians Joseph Farington and John Hoppner, and the discipline shows. Of the twenty-four aquatints he published in 1809, a single plate is of Ceylon, a view of Point de Galle, made when he was but twenty-two, with an authority Cordiner’s drawings could not attain. Salt would later become one of the foremost Egyptologists in Britain and Consul-General in Egypt, under whose patronage Abu Simbel was first cleared.
Publications on Henry Salt
One piece on this site discusses this artist.
- How the images of Ceylon were made: a guide to prints
Before photography, an image of Ceylon reached the world only as a print. The three families of printmaking behind those images, how to tell them apart on the sheet in front of you, and why two apparently identical impressions of the same view are not worth the same.
How to cite
Talwatte, Malaka, 'Henry Salt (1780–1827)', The Talwatte Collection, 28 July 2026, https://malakatalwatte.com/artists/henry-salt/
- Author
- Malaka Talwatte
- Published
- Permanent URL
- https://malakatalwatte.com/artists/henry-salt/