Fort William, Calcutta 1731

George Lambert painted Fort William, Calcutta, capturing the naval vessels and architecture of colonial India. Notice the ships, their flags and armaments, and the Fort itself, all laden with symbols of power and dominion. Consider the flags, flapping atop each ship. Flags have always been potent symbols – emblems of identity and authority. Think back to ancient Rome and the standards carried by legions, or the heraldic banners of medieval knights, each a claim of territory, a display of allegiance. The cannon smoke is a blunt reminder of military might, a motif seen across centuries, from ancient siege warfare to modern conflicts. The collective memory of such displays stirs deep-seated feelings of threat and awe. The very act of firing a cannon, of making such a loud and violent statement, speaks to the atavistic impulses of asserting control. These symbols resonate through history, a constant return of the same primeval assertion: power, dominion, and the will to enforce it. The symbols evolve, the flags change, but the underlying human drama remains tragically consistent.