Humour in Heaven

Anonymous (Early Bengal)

In the nineteenth century, parallel to the popular art tradition of Kalighat pat watercolour paintings found in the bazaars of Calcutta, a genre of indigenous oil painting developed across Bengal’s many colonies. At times comparable to the pats in subject matter, iconography, and even in the style of execution, the oils catered exclusively to Indian elites—the babu, the baniyan, and the zamindar