Part of the Old Tank
Plate 3 from Thomas Daniell's "Views of Calcutta" represents the Red Pool (Lal Dighi) in Tank Square at the heart of old Calcutta. Above the reservoir is the church built by Johann Zachariah Kiernander, a Swedish Lutheran missionary who served in southern India from 1740 and came to Bengal in 1757 at the invitation of Lord Clive. Granted a residence, Kiernander launched a campaign to build Beth Tephillah (Hebrew for House of Prayer). Finished in 1770 and known as Lal Girja, or the Red Church, this was the city's only Protestant house of worship until the Anglican St. John's opened in 1787.
In 1784 Thomas Daniel obtained permission from the East India Company to travel to India to work as an engraver, assisted by his nephew William. The pair reached Calcutta in 1786 and soon began to issue the first topographical prints of the colonial capital. Twelve etched and aquatinted “Views of Calcutta” were completed by 1788, printed and hand-colored by Indian assistants. The images proved immensely popular in India and Europe, and helped to launch a vogue for Indian ornament and design in Britain.
In 1784 Thomas Daniel obtained permission from the East India Company to travel to India to work as an engraver, assisted by his nephew William. The pair reached Calcutta in 1786 and soon began to issue the first topographical prints of the colonial capital. Twelve etched and aquatinted “Views of Calcutta” were completed by 1788, printed and hand-colored by Indian assistants. The images proved immensely popular in India and Europe, and helped to launch a vogue for Indian ornament and design in Britain.
Artwork Details
- Title: Part of the Old Tank
- Series/Portfolio: Views in Calcutta
- Artist and publisher: Thomas Daniell (British, Kingston-upon-Thames 1749–1840 London)
- Published in: Calcutta
- Date: 1786
- Medium: Hand-colored aquatint
- Dimensions: Sheet: 15 1/2 × 20 7/16 in. (39.4 × 51.9 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1966
- Object Number: 66.631.1(3)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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