What happened to Court Artists


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

What happened to Court Artists

What Happened to the Court Artists?The court of Mysore resisted the new trends and its ruler . Tipu Sultan encouraged local traditions such as mural paintings on the walls . In the states conquered by the British , painters adopted the change and one such example is use of perspective in their paintings.

  • These were different Indian traditions of Art in different courts.
  •   In Mysore, Tipu Sultan not only fought the British on the battlefield but also resisted the European art and he continued to encourage local traditions of mural paintings.
  • He had the walls of his palace at Seringapatam covered with mural paintings done by local artists. This painting celebrates the famous Battle of Polilur of 1780 in which Tipu and Haidar Ali defeated the troops.
  • The court of Murshidabad had different trend. The British had successfully installed their puppet Nawabs on the throne;first Mir Zafar and then Mir Qasim after defeating Sirajuddaulah. The Nawab encouraged local miniature artist to absorb the tastes and artist style of British.
  • The local artist of Murshidabad began to adopt the elements of European realism.They used perspective, i.e;style of painting which creates a sense of distance between objects that are near and those at a distance . they used various shades to make the figure realistic.
  • With the establishment of British power many of the local courts lost their influence and wealth. At the same time, British officials, who found the world in the colonies different from that back home, wanted images through which they could understand India, remember their life in India, and depict India to the western world.
  • So, we find local painters producing a vast number of images of local plants and animals, historical buildings and monuments, festivals and processions, trades and crafts, castes and communities. These pictures, eagerly collected by the east India company officials, came to be known as company paintings.
  • Speciality of the Company Paintings: In company paintings, people were against empty spaces, and gave no idea of the social surroundings within which they lived or worked. like the different types of Indian plants, birds and animals depicted in company paintings , the human figures are shown as mere specimens of different trades, castes and sects of a region.

     
     


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