Masterpieces in the Shadow of Empire - DAG Reveals the Untold Story of India's Artistic Renaissance under the Company Raj

Empire Meets Easel – A New Artistic Epoch Emerges

When the English East India Company arrived in India at the turn of the 17th century, its ambition was trade - not transformation. Yet, over time, as the Company’s dominion stretched across the subcontinent, an unexpected renaissance of Indian artistry began to unfold. By the late 1700s, British officials, spellbound by the land’s architectural splendour, botanical abundance, and vibrant cultural rituals, began commissioning native artists to record their impressions.

These artists - many once attached to the Mughal court-created works that fused Eastern elegance with Western perspective. This fusion would birth what art historians now call the Company style - a genre that reflected India’s cultural tapestry through the gaze of foreign patrons and local brushstrokes.

Curated Grandeur: The DAG Exhibition in Delhi

Stone to Silk: Documenting India’s Architectural Soul

Long before the age of photography, painting was the tool of preservation. From the poetic curves of the Taj Mahal to the stoic silhouette of Qutub Minar, European patrons commissioned Indian artists to immortalise the country’s built wonders. Artists like the remarkable Sita Ram accompanied dignitaries such as the Marquess of Hastings, sketching domes and courtyards along their diplomatic journeys. Their artworks—drenched in precision yet radiant with emotion—captured not just the structures but the spirit of India’s imperial past.

The Botanical Ballet: Louisa Parlby’s Watercolour Album

Amidst this rich visual archive lies the delicate beauty of botanical illustration. A standout feature of the exhibition is the Louisa Parlby Album - an assemblage of floral watercolours believed to have originated from Murshidabad. Louisa, the wife of Colonel James Parlby, gathered these works during her time in Bengal, before returning to England in 1801.

Divine in Motion: Rituals and Reverence in Watercolour One 1800 watercolour - ethereal in detail and charged with devotion - depicts a ritual procession at Thirunallar temple. Here, a statue of Shiva, elevated upon an ornate palanquin, is carried by worshippers flanked by Brahmin priests and trumpet-bearers. Dancers whirl beneath a makeshift archway, anointed with sacred water from above. This image, labelled “Ouricaty Tirounal,” captures not just religious ceremony - but the rhythm of devotion, the choreography of faith.

Fusion of Form: A Collaborative Language of Art

Company paintings were never solitary expressions - they were dialogues. Indian artists, steeped in miniature traditions, began incorporating European techniques of realism and perspective. In doing so, they redefined the possibilities of visual storytelling.

From Tanjore’s casted professions to Bengal’s urban vignettes, these works formed ethnographic albums that both informed and enchanted. Art historian Mildred Archer famously described them as “a fascinating record of Indian social life” - crafted through mutual curiosity, if not mutual understanding.

French Footnotes: The Pondicherry Collection

These paintings remind us that colonial art was not solely British - it was a European impulse, shaped across competing empires.

Fauna & Flora: Nature in Focus

A New Dawn: The Genesis of Indian Modernism

This moment, Anand asserts, is where India’s artistic voice began to evolve - not away from tradition, but through it—transforming curiosity into a new visual language.