View taken on the Esplanade, Calcutta

Plate 1 from the second set of Thomas and William Daniell's 'Oriental Scenery.' At the end of the 18th century Calcutta was a flourishing city with beautiful public buildings and large private houses built in the Palladian manner. The grandest buildings were around the Maidan, a great open space created around the second Fort William begun in 1757. The Esplanade on the Maidan’s north side was the site of the principal public buildings including Government House and the Supreme Court, and led to Chandpal Ghat, the official landing place from the river in Calcutta.