Sita Ram: Picturesque Views of India, Lord Hastings's Journey from Calcutta to the Punjab, 1814–15

Sita Ram, a Mughal artist from Murshidabad, emerged as a pioneering figure in Indian landscape painting during the colonial era, blending Western 'picturesque' techniques with indigenous artistic traditions. His works, created between 1813 and 1823 for Lord Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal, document the East India Company's administrative and military campaigns through intricate topographical views, architectural drawings, and natural-history sketches. Unlike his British contemporaries, Sita Ram employed a rapid wash technique with watercolor or gouache, achieving an impressionistic effect that captured the interplay of light and color uniquely. His compositions, while influenced by Western conventions, demonstrated a distinct 'Indian instinct,' often omitting or reimagining elements to emphasize subjective experiences over topographical accuracy. This study, by Jeremiah P. Losty, highlights Sita Ram's role in negotiating colonial artistic norms while asserting his autonomy as an Indian artist.

Sharma, Y. (2026). Sita Ram: Picturesque Views of India, Lord Hastings’s Journey from Calcutta to the Punjab, 1814–15. Archives of Asian Art, 76(1), 86–92. https://doi.org/10.1215/00666637-12268826