Picturesque


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Picturesque

Looking for the picturesque: In this kind of painting style, India is depicted as an unexplored land with wild and untamed landscape. Thomas and William Daniell were two painters , who projected India in this way . Their paintings had a great demand in Britain as people wanted to know about company's new empire.

One popular imperial tradition was that of picturesque landscape painting. What was the picturesque? This style of painting depicted India as a quaint land, to be explored by travelling British artists; its landscape was rugged and wild, seemingly untamed by human hands. Thomas Daniel and his nephew William Daniel were the most famous of the artists who painted within this tradition. They came to India in 1785 and stayed for seven years, journeying from Calcutta to northern and southern India. They produced some of the most evocative picturesque landscape of Britain’s newly conquered territories in India. Their large oil paintings on canvas were regularly exhibited to select audiences in Britain, and their albums of engravings were eagerly bought up by a British public keen to know about Britain’s empire.

The image of British rule bringing modern civilization to India is powerfully emphasized in the numerous pictures of late- eighteenth-century Calcutta drawn by the Daniel’s. In these drawings one can see the making of a new Calcutta, with wide avenues, majestic European-style buildings, and new modes of transport.

The description of the painting styles of Thomas and William Daniell

Thomas Daniell and William Daniell came to India in 1785:

  • They followed the imperial tradition of picturesque landscape painting. They produced evocative picture and presented India as a quaint land.
  • They showed India as a glorious civilization of ancient time, to be explored by travelling British artists.
  • Their large oil paintings on canvas were regularly exhibited to select audiences in Britain. The British public enthusiastically bought up their albums of engravings so as to know about Britain's empire.
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