Plan of Bangalore (with the Attacks) taken by the English Army under the Command of the Rt. Honble. Earl Cornwallis KG etc. etc. etc. March 22nd 1791

1794

Copper engraving on paper

Print size: 26.5 x 19.75 in (67.5 x 50 cm)
Sheet size: 29.5 x 23.5 in (75 x 60 cm)

The First Documented Plan of Bangalore Fort and Pettah: Robert Home’s Eyewitness Mapping from the Third Mysore War

Robert Home’s Plan of Bangalore (with the Attacks) taken by the English Army under the Command of the Rt. Honble. Earl Cornwallis KG etc. etc. etc. March 22nd 1791 constitutes the earliest documented cartographic representation of Bangalore Fort and its encompassing Pettah, made at the height of the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Published jointly in London and Madras by R. Bowyer and W. Sharp in 1794, the map was executed by Home while accompanying Cornwallis’ army as its official artist, providing not only a topographical record but an eyewitness account of the British assault on Bangalore on 22 March 1791.

The map delivers “a magnificent impression of a sizable Indian city prior to it being influenced by European urban models,” with the Pettah depicted as a large ovoid enclosure characterised by dense, irregular blocks and narrow, labyrinthine streets ideal for disorienting attacking forces. The attached palace-fort complex at the southern end of the Pettah reinforces the indigenous defensive logic of South Indian fortified cities, while the map’s military annotations show the precise positions of British batteries and offensive manoeuvres, presenting the siege as a technical operation documented in real time.

The plan’s historical depth extends further, situating Bangalore Fort within its broader architectural lineage. Initially built as a mud fort in 1537 by Kempe Gowda I under the Vijayanagara Empire, the fort was refortified in stone by Hyder Ali from 1761 and later expanded by Tipu Sultan. Home’s map captures this fortification at its zenith, as a one-mile-long structure surrounded by a ditch, twenty-six commanding towers, and a Pettah several miles in circumference defended by a rampart, thorn entanglements, and a secondary ditch. The plan therefore serves as an invaluable architectural record of a built environment now largely disappeared, with only the Delhi Gate surviving today; the remainder of the fort’s footprint now overlaps with Victoria Hospital, Fort High School, the Kote Venkataramana Swamy Temple, the Summer Palace precinct and the modern KIMS campus. The current Bengaluru Pete (Pettah / Pet / Petta) exists around the Fort, prominent ones being ChikkaPetta and Doddapetta.

Home’s presence in South India coincided with some of the most pivotal moments of the Mysore campaigns. Known primarily as a portrait painter, he nevertheless produced important historical works during this expedition—including The Hostage Princes Leaving with the Vakil and Lord Cornwallis Receiving Tipu Sultan’s Sons—and his mapping of Bangalore blends artistic sensitivity with military accuracy. This plan stands not only as a foundational visual document for the urban history of Bangalore but also as a primary artefact of British military cartography in South India at the close of the eighteenth century.

NON-EXPORTABLE

This lot is offered at RESERVE

This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each lot.