William Daniell was only 16 when he first set sail with his uncle to Calcutta in 1785. A grand adventure for a young man.

Before long, he was a painter of Indian colonial scenes working in watercolour, oils and etchings.

His quality was beautifully described thus: "one may almost feel the warmth of an Indian sky, the water seems to be in actual motion and the animals, trees and plants are studies for the naturalist".

In this dramatic painting, Daniell presents a hair-raising scene of dozens of laiden men crossing a wild-looking Alkananda River near Srinigar in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, via just a rope bridge.

Beyond the mountains in the background, the start of the great Himalayas, and the home of our Drajeeling tea.