A View of Part of the Ruins of the City of Agra

20 October 1787

Later hand-coloured aquatint on paper

Print size: 11.6 x 17.7 in (29.5 x 45 cm)
Sheet size: 13.7 x 19.6 in (35 x 50 cm)
With mount: 19.8 x 25.9 in (50.5 x 66 cm)

Published by J Grives, 20 October 1787

Hodges was the first professional British landscape artist to visit India and the artist aboard Cook's second expedition of discovery. Hodges travelled to India for more than three years, from 1780 to 1783, under the encouragement of Warren Hastings.

He went to Agra in 1783. Agra became the capital of the Mughal Empire under the rule of Akbar (1556-1605). Located on the west bank of the river Yamuna, it is today well known for the fantastic Mughal monuments constructed at that site, such as the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal. Upon his return, he produced a series of essays in the book titled Select Views in India. The present print is plate no. 35 from the same book.

Hodges was born in London to a blacksmith. He was employed as an errand boy in Shipley's drawing school, where he learnt how to draw in his spare time. He was noticed by Richard Wilson, a landscape painter, and was taken as the latter's assistant and pupil. By 1766, Hodges was holding exhibitions of his work. In 1772, he was appointed as draughtsman to Captain James Cook's second expedition to the South Seas. Inspired by the voyage, he made and exhibited several pictures at the Royal Academy in London in 1776 and 1777.

In 1778, following the death of his wife, Hodges left for India. He arrived there via Madras, then travelled up the Coromandel coast to visit Calcutta, Bengal, Patna, Benares and Bidjegur before returning to Calcutta due to illness. After recovery he visited Allahabad, Cawnpoor, Lucknow, Agra and Fyzabad. Travelling through the country allowed him to observe its architecture, inhabitants, customs, and scenery up close. He left India in 1783 and on his return to London, exhibited 25 oil paintings and a selection of aquatints at the Royal Academy between 1785 and 1794. These works "gave a completely new and direct vision of India translated into an eighteenth-century painter's composition. His views of the countryside with its great rivers and forests had little in common with the popular picture of India gained from old engravings in the travellers' accounts. His architectural subjects depicted many little-known Muslim tombs and mosques, Hindu temples, forts and palaces in Upper India..." (India Observed)

The famed British aquatint master, Thomas Daniell, mastered the art of aquatint hoping to emulate Hodge's commercial success.

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