Rewa (Central India)

pigments on paper

Company Painting, Signed by the artist Avadh Sharan

A charming Company painting of a mounted Police Officer from Rewa  in Central India. Unusually the painting is signed by the artist Avadh Sharan and also dated 1928. Originally bound in an album.

‘Company’ is a designation given to works by Indian artists painted in a mixed Indo-European style for the various East India companies. The foundation of this Indo-European style can be traced to the establishment of the first Portuguese trading posts. The British only counted as patrons in the 1760s following Clive’s victory at Plassey in 1757 . Patronage by the British in effect followed the flag. Princely states never directly under British control produced little company art and important centres like Delhi and Agra only became so after the British stabilised the reason in the early 1800s. Photography gradually replaced the genre in the 1840s but the style lingered on until the late nineteenth century. Barring minor regional variations, Company Style took the same form in all the centres. The favourite subjects were trades, costumes, crafts and festivals. Also popular were topographical pictures of contemporary India and exotic flora and fauna.

Painting Size (cms): 22 (H) x 18 (W)
Painting Size (inch): 8.5 (H) x 7 (L)

Framed Size (cms): 36.5 (H) x 32 (W)
Framed Size (inch): 14.5 (H) x 12.5 (L)