Company style

Khan Bahadur Khan with Men of his Clan, c. 1815, from the Fraser Album

First emerging in Murshidabad, later leading centres were the main British settlements of Calcutta, Madras (Chennai), Varanasi, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, the Maratha court of Thanjavur and Bangalore.[1] Subjects included portraits, landscapes and views, and scenes of Indian people, dancers and festivals. Series of figures of different castes or trades were particular favourites, with an emphasis on differences in costume; now they are equally popular as subjects for analysis by historians of the imperialist mentality.

Portfolios of animal or botanical subjects were also commissioned, and some erotic subjects. Architectural subjects were popular, usually done in a detailed and frontal style more like that of an architectural draftsman than the Romanticised style used by most European painters visiting India. The techniques varied, but mostly drew on Western watercolour technique, from which "transparency of texture, soft tones and modelling in broad strokes" were borrowed.[2]

Great Indian Fruit Bat (Pteropus giganteus), Bhawani Das or follower, 1777–82, from Mary Impey's album of natural history paintings

Large-scale patrons included Colonel James Skinner of Skinner's Horse fame, who had a Rajput mother, and for natural history paintings, Mary Impey, wife of Elijah Impey, who commissioned over three hundred for the Impey Album, and the Marquess Wellesley, brother of the first Duke of Wellington, who had over 2,500. There were equivalent movements, but much smaller, around the French and Portuguese possessions in India, and in other South Asian areas like Burma and Ceylon.

The French-born Major-General Claude Martin (1735–1800), latterly based in Lucknow, commissioned 658 paintings of birds, including Black Stork in a Landscape, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[3]

Some notable artists include Mazhar Ali Khan, who worked on Thomas Metcalfe's Delhi Book, and was part of a dynasty of miniature artists, the patriarch of whom, Ghulam Ali Khan, had worked for William Fraser on a similar commission known as the Fraser Album, with over 90 paintings and drawings, mostly painted in 1815 to 1819, which came to light in Fraser's papers only in 1979; they are now dispersed. He, like his uncle Ghulam Murtaza Khan, also painted portraits of the last Mughal emperors and their courts. However, art historians Milfred Archer and Toby Falk, regarding the Fraser Albums, asserted: "Although we can never know for certain who painted each Fraser picture, we can be sure on stylistic grounds that they are the work of a single family, that of Ghulam Ali Khan. Although the finest figure drawings among the Fraser pictures are technically superior to known portraits signed by Ghulam Ali Khan, those of the Gurkhas, the recruits, and some of the single figures such as Kala and Umeechund must be by another member of his family".[4]

The Delhi Book or Reminiscences of Imperial Delhi is an album including 120 paintings in Company style, commissioned in 1844 by Sir Thomas Metcalfe, the Company's Agent at the Mughal court after the murder of Fraser in 1835. Most are by Mazhar Ali Khan, and show the final years of the Delhi court, as well as local monuments. The book is now in the British Library in London.[5]

A Green-Winged Macaw, folio from Mary Impey's album of natural history paintings, Attributed by inscription to Shaikh Zain al-Din, Calcutta, about 1780

Paintings were mostly on paper, but sometimes on ivory, especially those from Delhi. They were mostly intended to be kept in portfolios or albums; the muraqqa or album was very well established among Indian collectors, though usually including calligraphy as well, as least in Muslim examples. The style developed in the second half of the 18th century, and by the early nineteenth century production was at a considerable level, with many of the cheaper paintings being copied by rote. By the 19th century many artists had shops to sell the work and workshops to produce it.

Some of the notable Company portraits by Ghulam Ali Khan family, as part of the Fraser Album, are listed below: [4]

• Three musketeers from Kurnal (c.1815-16)
• Four tribal warriors (c.1815-16)
• Salabat Bhatti and villagers at Rania (c.1815-16)
• Kala in uniform (c.1815-16)
• Kander Bakhsh, a dancing woman (c.1815-16)
• Ummee Chand in the uniform of Skinner's Horse (May 1819)
• A group of courtesans (c.1800-1825)
• The Emperor Bahadur Shah II enthroned (1838)

This artistic movement left an indelible mark on the Indian art scene, influencing subsequent generations of artists and shaping the way one perceives and appreciate art in India. The artists combined European techniques such as perspective and shading with traditional Indian styles, resulting in a distinctive fusion of artistic traditions. One of the key legacies of the Company Style is its documentation of Indian history, culture, and society during a significant period of colonial rule. The paintings provide a visual narrative of the people, landscapes, and customs of the time, offering valuable insights into the diverse fabric of Indian life. They capture the essence of a bygone era, preserving a visual record that helps one understand and appreciate the cultural heritage brought in with the emergence of Company rule in India. Furthermore, the Company Style played a crucial role in bridging the gap between Indian and European artistic traditions. By blending elements from both cultures, the paintings fostered cross-cultural dialogue and exchange. They introduced Indian aesthetics to European audiences and influenced the development of Orientalist art in the West. Similarly, the Company Style also introduced European techniques and perspectives to Indian artists, inspiring them to experiment and evolve their own artistic practices. The legacy of the Company Style of Paintings can be seen in contemporary Indian art, where the fusion of diverse influences continues to thrive. Many artists today draw inspiration from the Company painters, combining traditional techniques with modern approaches to create unique and engaging works of art. This enduring legacy ensures that the Company Style remains an important part of India's artistic heritage, reminding one today of the transformative power of cultural exchange and the beauty that emerges when different artistic traditions converge.

The arrival of photography was a direct blow for the style, but it survived into the 20th century, Ishwari Prasad of Patna, who died in 1950, being perhaps the last notable exponent. In the late 19th century the British established several Schools of Art, where a yet more Westernised version of the style was taught, later in competition with other styles.

• 
  East India Company official and servants, perhaps William Fullerton of Rosemount, surgeon and mayor of Calcutta in 1757
• 
  Five Recruits- Ummee Chund, Indur, Goolzaree, Bukhtawur and Juhaz, 1815-16
• 
  Akbar's Tomb at Sikandra, Sheikh Latif, c. 1810-1820
• 
  Maharaja Ranjit Singh c.1830
• 
  Indradyumna in a carriage, early 19th century

• Archer, Mildred and William G., Indian Painting for the British, 1770–1880 (1955)
• Archer, Mildred. Company Paintings: Indian Paintings of the British Period. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992. ISBN 0944142303.
• Dalrymple, William, Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company, 2019, Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd, ISBN 978-1781301012
• Falk, Toby. (1988). The Fraser Company Drawings. RSA Journal, 137(5389), 27–37. JSTOR 41374777
• Goswamy, B. N. (2011). Masters of the “Company” Portraits. Artibus Asiae. Supplementum, 48, 769–778. JSTOR 23223173
• Kossak , Steven (1997). Indian court painting, 16th-19th century.. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0870997831. (see index: p. 148-152)
• Welch, Stuart Cary. Room for Wonder: Indian Court Painting during the British Period, 1760–1880. Exhibition catalogue. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1978. ISBN 0847801764

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Company style.

• INVA article
• 45 images from the V&A
• Sardar, Marika. “Company Painting in Nineteenth-Century India.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2004