ANGLO SAXON AND MEDIEVAL PERIOD Introduction to British Literature.
Company style (BRITISH PERIOD)
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Transcript of Company style (BRITISH PERIOD)
Company style
Company style or Company painting is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for
European patrons in the British East India Company or other foreign Companies in the 18th
and 19th centuries. The style blended traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting with a more
Western treatment of perspective, volume and recession.
Most paintings were small, reflecting the Indian miniature tradition, but the natural history paintings of plants and birds were usually life size.
Leading centres were the main British settlements of Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi, Lucknow , Patna and
the Maratha court of Thanjavur.
Subjects included portraits, landscapes and
views, and scenes of Indian people, dancers
and festivals. Series of figures of different castes or trades
were particular favourites, with an
emphasis on differences in costume; now they are
equally popular as subjects for analysis by
historians of the imperialist mentality.
Some of the major works include Mazhar Ali Khan, who
worked on Thomas Metcalfe's Delhi Book, was part of a dynasty of great
miniature artists, the patriarch of whom, Ghulam Ali Khan, had worked
for William Fraser on a similar commission known as the Fraser
Album, considered a masterpiece.
Delhi book Delhi Book or Delhie
Book titled Reminiscences of Imperial Delhi is a collection of paintings done in company style,
commissioned bySirThomas Metcalfe in
1844. It contains 120 paintings
by Indian artists, mainly by Mughal
painter, Mazhar Ali Khan.
The book was bought by the British Library and displayed in London
A panorama in 12 folds showing the procession of the Emperor Bahadur Shah ZafarII to celebrate the feast of the 'Id., 1843.
Fraser Album Fraser Album is a collection of paintings commissioned
by British Indian civil servant, William Fraser. It is considered among the greatest masterpieces of Indian
art. This work is an important documentation of the
Mughal empire towards its end. The artwork covered the life in Mughal era during the
time. It compendium has portraits of villagers, soldiers, holy men, dancing women, Afghan horse-dealers,
ascetics, village of Rania and Indian nobles. Some of the noted Mughal painters like Ghulam Ali
Khan, his brother Faiz, and family worked on the Fraser Album, after financial support from the Mughal
emperor diminished. The album works were painted between 1815 to 1819
Materiali. Paintings were mostly on paper, but sometimes
on ivory, especially those from Delhi. ii. They were mostly intended to be kept in portfolios or albums; the muraqqa or album was
very well established among Indian collectors, though usually including calligraphy as well, as
least in Muslim examples. iii. The style developed in the second half of the
18th century, and by the early nineteenth century production was at a considerable level, with
many of the cheaper paintings being copied by rote.
iv. By the 19th century many artists had shops to sell the work and workshops to produce it.
A Common Indian Nightjar
The bird is executed with greatattention to detail—individualfeathers have been outlinedand painted with subtlegradations of color, andseveral shades of brown andblack are used to delineate itsbody markings.
The eye has a brightring around it and the legs aretextured with parallel linemarkings
Interior of a Mughal TombThe structure is a domedoctagonal chamber with anoculus. The dome itself hasbeen decorated with adiaper-pattern grid.
The walls below arearticulated with recessedarches and a marble dadoinlaid with red and greenfloral designs. The stonefloor has been decorated ina grid pattern with centralrosettes and a central insetthat resembles a rug
Bengal River Fish
The twin images of each side of the fish are placed by one another, the upper image in a dark gray tone and the lower one in a paler shade of the same color.
The mottled, scaly surface of the fish's body is carefully rendered, as are its mouth and eyes.