Captain S. P. Peacocke

Peacocke was a British officer in the Bombay Army and an artist notable for his landscapes views of the Nilgiri hills in South India. In 1847, lithographer Paul Gauci made tinted lithographs of these view that were published in the imperial folio in London titled Koondah Ranges, Western Ghauts, Madras, at and about the Stations of Ootacamund and Conoor, and the Segoor, Koondah and Conoor Passes. Peacockes lithographs reflect the romantic escape to a temperate hilly area that was yearned by all British people in the hot summer plains. Wistful of a home away from home.

A remarkable feature about his lithographs is the life-like graphical perspective in his topographic representations. The elevations and distant houses are all in proportion with a definite balance in scale and depth, heightening the dramatic sense of the landscapes. His attention to detail strayed away from the central focus of the work. Trained at surveying in the Army Peacocke used this training to good effect in his Nilgiri views.