Page 221 - Eye of the beholder

prepared the monochrome wash drawings for their students to imitate with subjects as foliage, clouds, masonry, figures, animals or ships. Instructions along these lines had been received in their youth by many of the British who went to India. Skills in drawings were an asset to the military, engineers and gunners in particular. Their work frequently involved surveying and the making of maps and diagrams.
Topographical drawings for showing the lie of the land and the position of forts for military installations had become equally important. Besides the soldiers and civilians in India, an important category of amateur artists were women who joined them as their wives and sisters, they had also received instructions in drawing. Faced with the prospect of long residence in India, they saw the potential for sketching to keep them preoccupied. These women were aware that they will have enough time on their hands and life generally was slow moving. Army officers were forced to spend long hours with no definite occupation, and when on camps for survey work, they were often lonely. The women on the other hand with minimal domestic responsibilities and the climatic condition forced them to spend time indoors unless accompanying their husbands. Emma Roberts in her book “India Voyager” gave good advice when she stressed the value of drawing as an accomplishment. She urged ‘outward bound’ ladies ‘to study under a good master and to understand the principles of art’. Before setting out for India, the women often improved their sketching and also undertook additional instructions in water colour painting. The result was that on reaching India, many military and civil officers as well as their women folk, were well equipped. Not only were they competent with pencil, pen and brush, but owing to the demand for sketching in general education, they regarded drawing and painting as valuable accomplishment.
Incidentally the proficiency in drawing and painting also served to create documents that would alternate as news- letters. With travels posing many difficulties, a career in India involved emotional strains as well. Men and women setting out on voyages were aware that their absence from home would be for a long spell or perhaps forever. These sad separations were frequent, for, as East India Company’s power grew, an increasing number of men and women from the educated classes went to India. In many families it became a tradition for at least one or two members to go east in the Company’s service. Many confirmed to the pattern whereby the eldest son stayed in England to inherit and manage the property, one became a clergyman, one an Indian civilian and one an officer in the Company’s army. This practice was repeated generation after generation.
Since the members of the family travelled to India and their absence was for a long time or permanently settled in India, there was an aching longing to supply relatives at home with information. One of the best ways of satisfying the needs was to keep in touch through portraits or drawings. These drawings and paintings replaced the photographs of today. These pictures accompanied the long letters and described not only verbally but also visually the various sights and sounds experienced by members of the British family on work in India. The relatives receiving the pictures were delighted and equally commented on the skills and dexterity of the artist. However intimate family news was not just the requirement, but demands were made for pictures, which were equivalent of press photographs of today were also in great demand in England. For instance, the Mysore Wars that were fought between 1767 and 1799 aroused great interest. Stories reached England of the difficult terrain, studded with hill forts, where the troops were fighting. The more stirring and dangerous the event, the more avidly
215