A painting of a pair of red avadavat, also known as red munias or candles, shown on a branch of the crepe jasmine plant, looks great. There are other colorful birds like the purple sun sitting on a pomegranate tree branch. “Veders’ paintings are engaging and sensitively crafted,” says Giles Tillotson, Senior VP, Exhibition and Publications, DAG, about the ongoing exhibition at DAG, The Claridges, New Delhi.
The exhibition, presented by the DAG Art Company, curated by Tillotson, features 125 company paintings of Indian birds from its gallery collection honoring some unknown Indian masters commissioned by the East India Company in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. We do. “This is an album of paintings on nature created in Kolkata around 1800 and collected by a European patron,” he explains.
Birds have always been depicted in Indian art. Geese, endowed with magnificent crests, appear in the murals of Ajanta. Natural drawings of recognizable species reached perfection in Mughal art under Emperor Jahangir. Developments related to the Mughal practice emerged in the late 18th century in Lucknow and Kolkata, where artists worked on commission from European patrons. The efforts of General Claude Martin, Lady Impey and William Roxburgh and their artists inspired others, giving rise to a large body of company paintings dedicated to natural history.
“DAG has been an ardent champion of Indian art over the past 25 years. Our partnership with the Wallace Collection in 2019 for the Forgotten Masters: The Indian Painting Company for the East India Company highlights our commitment to an often neglected genre of paintings, a commitment we are taking forward by showcasing Birds of India, Says Ashish Anand, CEO and MD of DAG.
The drawings belong to four groups – 99 works of Cunningham Graham (1800–1804), c. 1810 Album of the Birds of North-East India, Faber Album from c. 1830 in which the artist’s observations contribute to the ornithological studies described in this exhibition, and four folios by Chunni Lal of Patna – the only artist to be identified, from the Edward Inge album never seen before 1835.
“These four groups reflect the evolution of the company’s paintings through a single genre. Birds depicted in this exhibit include raptors, game birds, coastal waders, and many woodland and forest birds, some familiar and many that are now rare, says Tilloston.
However, the collection is not extensive. While there are birds of prey, game birds, a variety of waders such as sandpipers, red-footed, green-footed, and songbirds, some large waterbirds such as egrets, storks, and herons have been abandoned.
An accompanying catalog of 125 illustrations in book form provides a detailed study of birds through company illustrations. “These are a little different from Indian paintings. It is made on European paper, imported from the UK, and supplied by patrons. The pigments used are western watercolors. The work reflects a hybrid Indian art that combines the fragility and care of Mughal atelier-trained artists and the refinement of European art, a style unique to the Indian subcontinent whose patronage was almost entirely British,” says the curator.
A chapter in Aditi Mazumdar’s book ‘John Latham’s World of Birds’ talks about the contributions of John Latham, a 19th-century British ornithologist and an early author on the birds of the world, who published several works. Most of the paintings have inscriptions in English on birds such as Latham’s Spotted Pigeon and Latham’s Indian Kingfisher.
“I have identified the birds as accurately as possible and the captions provide information on what the bird is, its Latin name, and whether it is a resident bird or a winter visitor,” says Tilloston. to the gallery.
The exhibition is running till 6th October and you can visit https://dagworld.com/Birds_of_India/.
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