Page 228 - Eye of the beholder

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THREE INDIAN ORNITHOLOGICAL STUDIES
It belongs to the Company School of early 19th Century. Three birds are represented namely Rosefinch, Yellow Wagtail and Little Green Heron in the Sadhus’ collection. These three paintings have a jewel-like quality, rendered with precision and an insightful fine eye, which renders their form and character with utmost veracity or in other words almost like a photograph.
The three birds Rose Finch, Yellow Wagtail and Little Green Heron are portrayed sensitively and with an eye to detail. The Green Heron is greenish, with crown and crest which is greenish black. The underside of the throat is white. They are mainly found in inland waters and swamps of the subcontinent, Andaman, Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Maldives. Its rendering against the white stark paper with the context of the branch of wood, clearly establishes the educative nature of the painting. The artist through these paintings representing the wide variety of species of birds found in India was part of the process of an undertaking of documenting the flora and fauna of the colonized land, which was an integral part of the knowledge generation of the study of birds in the tropical region. The striking note of the composition is the character of the species of Green Heron, which is accurately detailed in terms of its colour, arrangement of feathers and particularly the eye and the beak. It is also possible to differentiate the textures of the feathers from the soft short feathers of the underside with the prominent and functional feathers of the wings and the tail. The nuanced tones and the subtle brushwork make it a brilliant piece of art. The artist has imparted a personality of proud bearing to this bird in the way it has been represented with its head held high.
Yellow Wagtail sparrow is characterized with its yellowish body, and the name wag tail is so given because it constantly wags its tail. It is found in wetlands, pastureland, and wet paddy stubbles. It breeds in Ladakh North Kashmir, in Andaman Nicobar islands and Sri Lanka. A small bird with dominant yellow colour that is partly present on the head just above the beak,