Untitled (A View of Back Bay from Malabar Hill)

Inscribed lower left “View of Bombay Bay … 3.4.61, from Dr Wilson’s house, Malabar Hill”

1873

Watercolour and pencil on paper

7 x 19.75 in   |  18 x 50 cm

BEFORE MARINE DRIVE: BACK BAY FROM MALABAR HILL, CAPTAIN A. H. WALKER, 1873

Sketched in 1873 by Captain A. H. Walker, this partially unfinished watercolour offers an atmospheric panorama of Back Bay, as seen from outside Cliff Cottage, the former residence of the Rev. Dr John Wilson, missionary-scholar and founder of Wilson College. Wilson lived and worked in the Girgaum/Chowpatty–Malabar Hill axis and was a central figure in the city’s intellectual life. Situated on today’s Siri Road, Malabar Hill, the vantage commands a sweeping outlook eastwards across the Bay towards the line of Marine Lines (well before the creation of Marine Drive), with shipping scattered across the shallows and fishing boats at work in calm daytime waters.

The immediate foreground presents the low-built houses and terraced gardens of Malabar Hill, rendered with brisk pencil underdrawing and selective washes of colour. The mid-distance records the sparse development along the Esplanade, while the far horizon shows the Konkan mainland hills of Maharashtra. As with many 19th-century views, the background may be subtly telescoped by the artist to emphasise topographical drama, a common artistic device in colonial panoramas.

Formally, the work reflects the practice of military draughtsmen active in India during the mid-Victorian period: combining pencil outlines, pale washes and selective highlights to privilege accuracy of coastline, harbour, and shipping over pictorial finish. Though incomplete, the drawing is of notable historical importance, capturing Bombay’s seafront before large-scale reclamations, when the shoreline was still defined by its open bay, fishing traffic, and scattered bungalows along the Malabar ridge.

In both its vantage and its subject, Walker’s sheet joins the distinguished tradition of Malabar Hill panoramas that helped establish the visual identity of Bombay in the 19th century, bridging picturesque topography with documentary intent.

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