The British living in India in the second half of the 18th century had a fascination and curiosity for what they perceived as an exotic civilisation and lifestyle. They were mainly high officials of the East India Company, stationed in Bengal. The paintings in our exhibition were meant as a record of what they saw around them.
They commissioned pictures of Hindu and Muslim festivals, processions and weddings, court ceremonies as well as architectural monuments and ruins, including the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort in Agra. They also collected watercolours of their Neoclassical mansions, their estates, often with their family ensuite, taking the air on elephant or palanquin. These paintings were executed by Indian artists trained in contemporary British watercolour technique, which is what their British patrons favoured. During this period Mughal patronage collapsed, the whole country was in flux and Mughal artists therefore adapted to the taste of this new elite. This style of painting became known as Company School.
Our exhibition focuses on the development of Company School style from 1795–1830 as seen in two sets of paintings made for British patrons in Bengal and in Bihar. On show are 12 Murshidabad watercolours (1795–1810) depicting festivals both Hindu and Muslim, processions, wedding ceremonies, important court occasions, local sights and of those further afield. A painting of particular historical interest is the depiction of the East India Company factory (trading establishment) at Cossimbazar, just south of Murshidabad.
Alongside these watercolours we also show 9 rare examples of early 19th century Patna paintings, which are strongly influenced by the work of Sevak Ram (1770-1830). There is a rare picture of a widow committing suttee, to become sati or ‘a good woman’ accompanying her dead husband to the afterlife, a subject that fascinated Europeans but of which there are surprisingly few artistic representations.