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

Description

Lord Hastings's journal of his travels from Calcutta to the Punjab in 1814 records the events and views of this journey accompanied by more than 200 large watercolour illustrations. This book includes an edited version of the journal charting his passage through the India of the early 19th century. Though Sita Ram's picturesque paintings were a sharp departure from the accurate 'Company' views of Indian monuments, they nonetheless revealed his eye for architectural detail. J. P. Losty brings alive the 17-month long expedition in a flotilla of 220 boats from Barrackpore past Patna, Benares, Allahabad and Cawnpore, and then overland to Lucknow, Delhi and the Punjab.

J. P. Losty was formerly Curator-in-Charge of the extensive Indian visual collections in the British Library in London. He has published many books and papers on various aspects of the painting of India from the 12th to the 19th centuries.

'Ram's large watercolours, over 200 of them, executed with exquisite precision, are an invaluable archive of the Colonial era and delightful in themselves' - Mature Times 'A priceless combination of text and images: a unique insight into a lost world' - The Lady