he most familiar topographical images of the Mysore Wars are generally those made by excellent professional draftsmen and artists such as Allan, Beatson and Home. The amateur works, often those of soldiers, surveyors and engineers in the field, are particularly interesting because they are a simple personal record. The soldiers would normally have received some training in drawing as part of their cadetship, at the Training Academies of Woolwich or Haileybury. In Scotland, the Foulis Academy had been established in Glasgow in 1754, advertised in the Glasgow journal of 30 August 1755 as 'The Public School for the Art of Design of Drawings.' Instruction was given 'with a view to render this accomplishment useful in the future business of their lives, whether they chance to be brought up in the army, navy, or apply themselves to the study of manufactures, or arts.'

This quick, but confident drawing of the Seringapatam skyline includes Tipu's mosque, with its twin minarets; Tipu's palace, and the Hindu pagodas. It is very similar to the view 'North East View of Seringapatam, drawn by I. Smith from a view taken of the Spot' (published 14 Dec. 1792), by John Smith, which appears as the engraved frontispiece of Dirom's 'Narrative.'