Page 225 - Eye of the beholder

stirring, terrifying events like the Mysore Wars and the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Of course within the context of their time, the paintings and drawings also had a sole artistic value and purpose such as in the case of portraits and landscapes. Art too served as a critical tool in helping British men and women construct and visualize the “empire." This was especially true of the picturesque idiom, which had a powerful impact on almost all subsequent forms of imperial representation including photographs and advertising from the mid-19th century' onwards. Beginning around 1770s, British artists who travelled the empire frequently constructed and depicted what they saw through the lens of the picturesque and hence the sublime and the beautiful, presenting regions as diverse as South Africa, India, Australia, and the Pacific Islands in remarkably similar ways.
The Indian painter had been deft in minute detailing, crisp rendering and possessed exceptional craftsmanship. Having been mesmerized by the exotic flora and fauna as well as indigenous art and architecture, the East India Company had an urge to secure this beauty from the accomplished hands of the talented painters. Not only the British artists were involved in the same, but many Indian painters were commissioned to assist and draw the vicinities they perceived as significant.
Owing to the absence of camera and inclination to preserve memories, authorial officials were also interested in capturing the views in order to take them back home as souvenirs.
Much has been written about European artists and Calcutta and to this city of opportunity came a series of professional painters, mostly British, in search of a fortune. The European and native artists [as the patuas who settled near the Kali temple] were drawn to Calcutta almost simultaneously during the time when the city began to grow rapidly and assume its present shape. This was under the governor-generalship of Warren Hastings, regarded as the true founder of Calcutta. It was during his stewardship that in the words of Thomas and William Daniel “the bamboo roof suddenly vanished, and the marble column took the place of brick walls” results in the transformation to an urban character and cultural personality of Calcutta changing and evolving. Along with other manifestations of urban culture, the visual arts became a necessity of life, and both the city and its residents had the economic means to indulge their aesthetic tastes.
From both literary and artistic evidence, it appears that the earliest patrons of the arts in Calcutta were the British. British artists of importance who exerted considerable influenced on many Indian artists particularly the miniaturists who had lost their patronage and were seeking ways and means to keep alive their skills and talents included Tilly Kettle (1735-1786), William Hodges (1744-1797), Johan Zoffany (1733-1810), A.W. Devis (1762-1822), George Farington (1752-1788), Robert Home (1752-1834) and F.B. Solvyns (1760-1824). Their work impinged on that of Indian artists, who helped in their studios, or copied their many drawings, or were influenced by the aquatint versions of their work. There were too many such artists in Calcutta for the local artists to be able to compete.
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