A View of a Hill Village in the District of Baugelepoor

William Hodges, known for his fine landscape drawings and paintings of India, was the first English artist to arrive in the subcontinent in 1780. He stayed for four years, travelling extensively and sketching copiously. Upon his return, he published a fascinating account of his travels of India, accompanied with aquatints. In this etching, he gives a glimpse of a quiet hill village in what is present-day Bhagalpur in Bihar, the thick vegetation nesting the hamlet, creating a pretty picture of pre-photography time in rural India.