A View of Writers' Buildings from the Monument at the West End

James Bailie Fraser, a European watercolourist and printmaker, travelled extensively through India and published a series of aquatints in England called ‘Views of Calcutta and its Environs,’ between 1824 and 1826. Fraser’s views imbue the city with a hint of romanticism to convey a sense of pride in British rule. He depicts white buildings surrounded by lush vegetation silhouetted against a blue sky or monsoon clouds. Against a view of the Writers’ Building in the background, the foreground of this image is dominated by the imposing Holwell’s Monument—built to commemorate the Black Hole tragedy, when Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah’s soldiers were said to have kept around 130 soldiers and civilians confined to a small chamber with only one window, resulting in the deaths of over 120 people. Without a protective railing, the condition of the monument seems dilapidated in this aquatint as people ply their trade around it. This monument was pulled down in 1821 and later re-erected by Lord Curzon in 1899.