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Patna / Company school
Mrs. Shalini Tiwari
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Drawing & Painting
KMGGPGC Badalpur

Objectives:
The following are the aims and objectives of the present topic:
1. To systematically explore the Patna/Company school in various parts
of Indian subcontinent.
1. To understand the subject matters, style and technique of
Patna/Company school.

Patna / Company school(1770 - 1850)
Background
● East India company was formed in 1599 AD. to start a business in the East and received a
royal charter from the British queen Elizabeth I on 31st Dec 1600 AD. Queen was also a
shareholder in that company.
● In 1608 AD, William Hawkins was sent by East India Company to the court of Mughal
emperor Jahangir to get the royal permit to establish East India’s factories in the Western
coast of India.
● In 1615 AD East India Company sent Sir Thomas Roe in the court of Jahangir for
concession for the Company and got the freedom to trade in the whole Mughal territory.
● After business East India Company started dreaming to rule the Indian. In 1707 AD, after
the death of Aurangzeb, mughal empire declined and there was not any central authority
in India.Indian rulers sought help from British for their security.
● In 1757, Robert Clive defeated the Bengal’s Nawab Siraj- ul -Daulah at Plassey and
captured Calcutta. Now British directly became involved in governance.

Introduction:
Company School is Indo-European style of Paintings made by Indian artists during
18th and 19th century under the patronage of East India Company officials. Many Indian
artists worked for British East India Company and blended the elements of Rajpoot and
Mughal miniature paintings with European style and technique.
East India Company officials started commissioning Indian artists to paint for them and
according to their taste and liking thats why this painting style was called “Company
paintings”.
This style was called Patna school also because Patna was the trade centre at that time
and after the death of Murshidabad nawab Sirajuddaula, artists came to Patna in the search of
patronage.
In 1840 photography was introduced in India after that photography took over Company
paintings.
Centers:
Company paintings were produced in the presidency of Madras but soon spread to
other parts of India like Patna, Murshidabad, Lucknow, Benaras, Calcutta, Agra, Delhi and in
Western India also.

Characteristics:
1. A plain dull opaque Background was European style in the Company paintings.
2. Naturalistic and Realistic representation
3. Perspective
4. Shading
5. Medium: water colour, pencil and sepia wash, kajali syahi
6. Subject matter: Flora and fauna, darbar scenes, landscapes, festivals, dance,
music, historical monuments,ceremonies, portraits and scenes of daily life etc.
7. Paintings were made in two sizes- 6/8 inches (Postcard size), 22/16 inches.
8. Soft colours were used such as blue, green and various tones of brown.
9. Paintings were done on paper but sometimes on ivory also.

Company Painting Artists:
1. Hulasram
2. Fakir Chand Lal
3. Jhoomak Lal
4. Shiv Dayal
5. Tuni Lal
6. Shiv Lal
7. Ishwari Prasad
8. Jairam Das

Source of all images: https://en.m.wiipedia.org

References:
1. Howes, J.. 2010, Illustrating India: The early Colonial Investigations of Colin
Mackenzie. Oxford University Press, New Delhi
2. Archer, Mildred, Company Drawings in the India office Library, Her Majesty’s
stationary office, 1972
3. Archer and W.C. Archer, Indian Paintings for the British, 1770-1880, Oxford, 1955
4. Archer, Mildred, Natural History Drawings in the India Office Library, London,
1962

Links & Suggestive readings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_T60OAQz3M
1. Avinash Bahadur Verma - Bhartiya ChitraKala Ka itihas
2. G.K. Agrawal- Kala aur Kalam
3. Percy Brown - Indian Paintings
4. Bharat Ki ChitraKala - Rai Krishna Das
5. Kala Kilas - Kiran Pradeep

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Patna company school

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Patna company school