HODGES, William (1744–1797)

A broad riverside prospect of Chinsura, the important Dutch settlement on the Hooghly River in Bengal.

Hodges views the settlement from the river, with a long succession of European-style buildings, terraces and landing steps extending along the waterfront. A tower rises prominently near the centre, while colonnaded structures project toward the river at right.

Two Bengali river craft animate the foreground: a covered boat at lower left and another boatman entering the composition from the right. Their dark silhouettes contrast strongly with the pale surface of the Hooghly and the monumental cloud-filled sky.

The result is both a picturesque landscape and an unusually important visual record of European colonial architecture in eighteenth-century Bengal.

Reference: William Hodges, Select Views in India, Drawn on the Spot, in the Years 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1783, London, 1780s; Abbey, Travel in Aquatint and Lithography, no. 416. Abbey, J. R. Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770–1860, Abbey Travel 416.28. The Wellcome catalogue specifically references Abbey 416.28 for this plate.