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In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, the river Ganga formed the principal channel of traffic
between east and north India. With the emergence of the British as
the dominant power in the country, British landscape artists started
coming to India in increasing numbers. These artists made charming
sketches while sailing up and down the river – the first ever
visual impressions of Bihar.
The journey up the Ganga
from Kolkata to Kanpur and beyond passed mainly through modern-day
Bihar. The artists’ sketches drawn during their travels up and
down the river thus inevitably included a large number of places
along the river. However, many artists went into the interior of the
state of Bihar and made some delightful sketches of the picturesque
scenes there.
The two artists whose
views not only of Bihar but of all India excel all others were Thomas
Daniell and his nephew William, who spent seven years in India from
1786 to 1793. They built up a large stock of drawings in the course
of their travels and on their return to England embarked on making
aquatints for their acclaimed Oriental Scenery, a truly
massive enterprise published in six parts of 24 views each between
1795 and 1808. Two of their finest aquatints are those of a part of
the city of Patna and the mausoleum of Nawab Asaf Khan at Rajmahal
which was the capital of Bihar and Bengal in the seventeenth century.
Two other charming Bihar sketches along the Ganga were S.W. view
of the Fakeer’s Rock in the Rvier Ganges, near Sultangunge and
S.E. View of the Fakeer’s Rock in the River Ganges, near
Sultangunge. These rocks have been long considered among the most
sacred places on the Ganga, and were sketched by practically every
artist who passed that way.
The Daniells made a short
inland journey into Bihar and made some exceptionally pleasing views
of some of the places. At Agori, on the River son, they succeeded in
producing a truly exquisite aquatint which embodies the exact
requirements for picturesque landscapes prescribed in art circles in
the late eighteenth century Britain. The river and temples provide
the background and middle distance, whereas the drooping roots of the
banyan tree in the foreground dominate the captivating picture which
is enlivened with groups of human figures.
Waterfalls, like the
banyan trees, ever remained the Daniells’ favourite subject, and
they made a particularly charming aquatint of Dhuah Koonde, or
“Pool of Smoke” where a stream drops down in a massive
cascade. Another fine sketch made by them was that of the N.W.
View of the Fort of Rohtasgarh within which were the remains of a
Mughal palace, mosques and Hindu temples. An exceptionally
fascinating sketch made by them was The Sacred Tree of the Hindoos
at Gyan, Bahar.
Another artist who
deserves special reference is Lieutenant-Colonel Forrest who
published in London 24 “highly finished and colourful views”
of the river in 1824 under the title A Picturesque Tour Along the
Rivers Ganges and Jumna. Two of the finest views of the river
drawn by him while passing through Bihar were the Motee Girna, or
Fall of Pearls in the Rajemahal Hills and the Rocks of
Colganj.
Yet another highly
talented artist was Colonel Robert Smith who made a wonderful set of
excellent watercolours for the sites and scenes in Bihar as he sailed
down the Ganga on his way back to England in 1830. The most
interesting of his views was easily the beehive-shaped granary built
by the well known engineer Colonel Garstin in 1786, under orders of
Warren Hastings, for storing grain as a safeguard against famine.
This building also came to be known for its clear echo. Another
beautiful watercolour made by him was the house of one of the East
India Company’s early servants Augustus Cleveland at Bhagalpur
which was the administrative headquarters of a district.
Easily the finest and
certainly the most prolific of all accomplished amateur artists was
Sir Charles D’Oyly, and East India Company civil servant who
spent almost 11 years (1821-23) as the Company’s Resident at
Patna. He is well known for founding an art society in Patna which he
named “The United Patna and Gaya City or Bihar School of
Athens”. Two of his very rare oil paintings of the interesting
bazaar scenes of Patna are now in the collection of the Yale Center
of British Art in the U.S.A.
Another view painted
practically by every artist visiting Bihar was the mausoleum of Sher
Shah at Sasaram. Two oil paintings of the mausoleum were done by
William Daniell one of which (painted in 1810) finds the pride of
place in the Tate Gallery in London. Almost the earliest oil
painting, however, was done by Francis Swain ward who had received
professional training as an artist in London about the middle of the
eighteenth century before joining the Madras Army. He made several
excellent sketches of the present-day Tamil Nadu, and Sher Shah’s
mausoleum is the only painting of a subject outside south India done
by him. It shows the tomb and its periphery in a large tank near
Sasaram in Bihar.
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