Give a brief sketch of Thomas Daniell and his paintings.
Thomas Daniell began his career as a landscape painter. In 1784 he came to India with his nephew William. They both remained in India for seven years. Together they executed a number of major works in engraving, oils and watercolours.
The large oil paintings on canvas, done by them, were regularly exhibited to select audiences in Britain. Their albums of engravings were bought up by the British who wanted to know about Britain's Empire.
‘Oriental Scenery’ is the title given to the monumental six-volume work of 144 hand-coloured engravings made by Thomas Daniell and his nephew William.
The paintings by Thomas Daniell showed the ruins of local buildings that were once grand. The paintings seemed to reveal that India would change and modernise only through British governance. The idea of British rule bringing modern civilisation to India is powerfully emphasised in the numerous pictures of late-eighteenth-century Calcutta drawn by the Daniels.
Why did some artists produce cheap popular prints? What influence would such prints have had on the minds of people who looked at them?
In what way did the British history paintings in India reflect the attitudes of imperial conquerors?
Point out which of the following were brought in with British art:
(a) oil painting (b) miniatures (c) life-size portrait painting (d) use of perspective (e) mural art
1. Fill in the blanks:
(a) The art form which observed carefully and tried to capture exactly what the eye saw is called _________.
(b) The style of painting which showed Indian landscape as a quaint, unexplored land is called _________.
(c) Paintings which showed the social lives of Europeans in India are called _________.
(d) Paintings which depicted scenes from British imperial history and their victories are called _________.
Why did the scroll painters and potters come to Kalighat? Why did they begin to paint new themes?
Describe in your own words one painting from this chapter which suggests that the British were more powerful than Indians. How does the artist depict this?