Picturing India: People, Places, and the World of the East India Company

摘要

In 1799, Richard Wellesley - still fresh into his tenure as Governor-General "determined upon building a palace suitable to his magnificent ideas, and one as would be proper for the residence of the British Governor General of India". Designed by Charles Wyatt, an officer in the Bengal Engineers, the resulting Government House dominated Calcutta's skyline, transplanting a vast British country house to Bengal. The message was not intended to be subtle - through bricks and mortar Wellesley sought a clear assertion of the East India Company's transformation from a "retail dealer in muslins and indigos" to the preeminent presence in South-Asian politics.