Thomas Baines (born 27th November 1820 – died 8th May 1875) was an English artist and explorer of British Colonial southern Africa and Australia. In 1858 he accompanied David Livingstone on a journey along the Zambezi river and was one of the first Europeans to view the falls in 1862 when he made a journey there with fellow explorer and painter, James Chapman. He made a series of iconic paintings of the falls and their environs.
“I remained till near sunset sketching, and, as in all the views I had taken about here, found that the magnitude of the principal features so dwarfs everything else, as rocks, trees, etc, which in common scenes would occupy a large portion of the picture, that I could hardly bring my pencil to a point fine enough to represent them. Still, unless these accessories are minutely and distinctly painted, the vastness of the whole is much invalidated.”
Thomas Baines 1862.
Baines, standing on the very edge ‘fronting a resplendent double rainbow’ was amazed to see his shadow cast in the foam three hundred feet below.
Info taken the website: ‘tothevictoriafalls.com‘
