A Buriganga painting from 1861

Illustration: Ashif Ahmed Rudro; Painting: Frederick William Alexander de Fabeck/Wikimedia Commons

Oftentimes, a major city or civilisation is accompanied by a river. For Dhaka, it is the Buriganga. No matter how polluted or dirty, it is hard to imagine our city and its history without it. In the olden times, a few painters picked up the brush to capture it in the canvas. 

One such painting was created in the year 1861, by Frederick William Alexander de Fabeck, a doctor who served as an assistant surgeon in Bengal during the British colonial era. Today (15 September) is his birthday! 

Fabeck is now long gone, but his creation is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK. The watercolour looks splendid! It also feels nostalgic, perhaps because of the all-too-familiar boats plying about in the river and the domed buildings (quite possibly mosques) in the background. 

There are a number of other artworks on Dhaka by the same artist and doctor. We will feature them in the future episodes of our "Did You Know" series. So stay tuned!

Source: Victoria and Albert Museum website