Manuscript Panorama of Madras.

rare eighteenth-century manuscript panorama of Madras

One of the earliest accurate views of Chennai (Madras) and possibly the first from the mainland.

Large and rare representation of Chennai and Fort St. George from the first half of the eighteenth century. In the foreground lies the now extinct Elambore river, originally the key for Fort St. George's establishment, and the Island of Chennai. The Cooum River, although not visible, had already been joined with Elambore to create the Island which housed the stables and artillery range and still survives today. We have been unable to fine any earlier depictions of Chennai and Fort St. George from this perspective. By 1746 an additional bastion had been created on the Island, causing the river to flow through the Fort, which is only just starting to be built in this view ('new fortifications'), placing it likely just a few years before.

This view was likely produced by a French naval officer ('lieutenant') who was unhindered by the need of Britain and the East India Company to present Fort St. George as an impregnable outpost. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries Britain had struggled to expand its interest in India beyond the trade posts along the eastern coast, with heavy French influence in the south surrounding their stronghold Pondicherry and the Maratha Confederacy still dominating northern India. They repeatedly had to fall back on Fort St. George as a last redoubt against both Indian and French attacks, actually being overrun in 1746 by France who ceded Chennai back in 1749, and so all views and depictions of the town emphasised the Fort and its heavy defences, reducing the size of the 'Black Town' by varying degrees and not depicting the further suburbs at all. This panorama shows both, aided by the seaward perspective, which makes it a highly important contemporary record of the city.

As well as the clear distinctions between the 'White Town' and 'Black Town', all of the contemporary landmarks of Chennai are present. The Governor's house, the British temple, the Church of Capuchins, the Armenian Church, as well as the 'tombs of the Moors' amongst the palms to the east, are all accurately rendered. The artist's military leanings come out in the labelling of important defensive structures including the barracks, the powder magazine, the stables, the bridge, and of course the 'new fortifications'. Perhaps this panorama was even produced for the purpose of exposing the fort's weaknesses, after all the French did successfully lay siege to Fort St. George just a few years after this was drawn.

Pen & ink drawing; panorama in three glued sheets (149 x 24 cm), mounted; neat repairs to small tears; signed B. Lt Charlo in the bottom right hand corner; captions in French.