Indian Company School Taj Mahal, Agra

An original 19th-century watercolour painting, Indian Company School, Taj Mahal, Agra.

An exquisite miniature Indian Company painting showing the iconic facade of the Taj Mahal at Agra. Whilst the Taj Mahal is an extensive complex of buildings and gardens, here is represented the definitive domed white marble mausoleum. The tiny scale of this painting renders its architectural intricacy all the more awe-inspiring.

In the 18th century, its bejewelled tomb was plundered, and by the 19th century the Taj Mahal was suffering from neglect and disrepair—a fact that this exacting drawing belies. Near the end of the 19th century, Lord Curzon, then British viceroy of India, ordered a major restoration of the mausoleum complex as part of a colonial effort to preserve India’s artistic and cultural heritage.

This painting is a fine example of an Indian Company painting, produced for Western (especially British) patrons in India in the 19th century, many of whom were working for the East India Company. It displays the striking hybrid techniques which led to the categorisation of the 'Company' style as a School. While incorporating traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting, they were given a more 'western' appearance through their use of perspective and rounded modelling, as opposed to the more decorative, 'flatter' styles that had gone before.

On cream wove paper with tinted wash border.

Please note the small size of this artwork.