Exhibition on Indo-Islamic monuments' paintings underway in capital

An exhibition “Indian Historical monuments in Company Painting School” is underway at the National Museum here that presents illustrated paintings on Indo-Islamic monuments with scenes of Mughal architectures made with photo realistic approach. The Museum had taken a new initiative on “Small Temporary Exhibition” from its reserve collection. The exhibition was inaugurated yesterday by Additional Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Sujata Prasad and remain open to the public till August 27.

The exhibition “Indian Historical monuments in Company Painting School” would present illustrated paintings on Indo-Islamic Monuments with scenes of Mughal Architectures made with photo realistic approach, a statement said. During the 18th and 19th centuries, India witnessed a new genre of painting known as ‘Company School’ as it emerged primarily under the patronage of the British East India Company. The British officers trained Indian artists in British water color style for documenting Indian daily life scene, monuments, art and culture in the form of paintings for carrying out as souvenir to their homes while returning to the England. Some of these Company Paintings were illustrated with scenes of Mughal Architectures.

As these painting were part of documentation most of these architectures were painted in full profile such as Red Fort of Delhi (1639-48 CE) and Taj Mahal (1630-48 CE) while a few of them depict only important part of the monument for highlighting special features like Interior of the Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daula. As many as 12 paintings from the Reserve Collection are exhibited in this exhibition including Chini ka Rauza Agra, Buland-Darwaza Fatehpur Sikri, Gateway of Taj Mahal Agra and Akbar’s Tomb Agra.