A View in the Island of Barbuda in the West Indies

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Artist/Maker N. James (fl. 1818)

DateJune 1818

MediumWatercolor on paper

DimensionsSheet: 10 7/8 × 15 15/16 in. (27.6 × 40.5 cm)

Credit LineThe Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection of Hamilton College

Object number1971.11

Not on view

Description"Codrington Castle appears on the left edge of a watercolor, entitled "A View of the Island of Barbuda," painted by N. James and dated June 1818. The artist may have been related to John James, who then was serving as manager and attorney for Barbuda. The visible segment of the Castle includes part of a wall from which projects what appears to be one side of a bastion. A crenel and merlon battlement tops the wall and bastion. The building displays no features, such as doors or windows, by which to estimate wall height but a rough scale is provided by the portrayed animals and humans. Wall height of between 5 and 7 meters (ca. 15-20 ft) can be extrapolated from two deer standing some distance beyond the bastion. Foreground people and animals allow for a height estimate of between 3 and 5 m (10-15 ft). The house in the center background, serving as the focal point for the painting, depicts the west face of what has more recently been called Warden's House... A road from the lagoon leads to the house; the Castle is appropriately situated on the north side of that road. Therefore, the visible part of the Castle is the eastern end of its southern wall; the bastion forms the southeast corner. In the far background, between the Castle and the main house, are two individual structures representing slave quarters. The depiction of the two deer is noteworthy because the Codringtons imported European fallow deer, Dama dama, to Barbuda for hunting. They survive on the island today." (SOURCE: David R. Watters, "Archaeological Investigation of Codrington Castle, Barbuda, West Indies," CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: THE ANNALS OF CARNEGIE MUSEUM 66.3 (August 1997), pp. 238-240) According to David R. Watters, this watercolor depicts the Castle in Codrington Village, Barbuda: "This painting is the first rendering I have seen that depicts the Castle while it still existed. Of equal interest, however, is the depiction of the "mansion" in the center of the watercolor. That building is extant but is now surrounded by more recently built structures, which mask the architectural layout of the original building." (SOURCE: correspondence dated September 20, 1994). Mansion, fort, sheep; houses?, people (a school?); laden donkey.

Collections

Beinecke Collection of the Lesser Antilles

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2007
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Selections from the Permanent Collection: The Beinecke Collection," June 21-Sept. 16, 2007;

1984
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Beinecke Collection," July 10 - September 5, 1984.

Published References David R. Watters, "Archaeological Investigatioin of Codrington Castle, Barbuda, West Indies," CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: THE ANNALS OF CARNEGIE MUSEUM 66.3 (August 1997), p. 239, fig. 8;

Hough, Samuel J. and Penelope R.O. Hough, THE BEINECKE LESSER ANTILLES COLLECTION AT HAMILTON COLLEGE: A CATOLOGUE OF BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS, PRINTS, MAPS, AND DRAWINGS (Trustees of Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, 1994), 334, catalogue no.P24.

Signature Signed in ink on verso at upper center beneath ms. inscription: N James 1818

Inscribed Inscribed on verso at upper center in ink: A View in the Island of Barbuda in the West Indies / N James June 1818