A View of the Fort of Iionpoor upon the Banks of the River Goomty

William Hodges’ impressions of India were the first by any British artist for audiences in England eager to know more about the new colony of the still emerging British Empire. And etchings such as these went a long way in establishing the grandeur of the territories being conquered politically at that time by the commercial entity called the East India Company. This etching, created after Hodges returned to England, captures the yet unsullied landscape with a fort at ‘Lionpoor’ overlooking the quietly flowing Gomti river, somewhere in present-day Uttar Pradesh.