Seeta Ram captures many unique sights in his work. The oldest known picture of the Rohilkhand capital, Rampur has also been done by him. Hastings intervention in the Oudh/Awadh (Persian) wars with the Rohilla (Afghans) is the big break that East India co. got. And the one that Hastings was tried for. By chance the Rampur walled city gateway that Seeta Ram chose to paint is the one which later became famous as Wright's gate. The Afghans/Rohillas were a major focus for Hastings & Seeta Ram's work is their first pictorial record. This of course pre-dates the first Anglo-Afghan wars by some 15-20 years.

what a lovely painting!

Sitaram and his work is a very recent discovery, c. 1970, effected by the British Library. The Hastings, on their tour across North India upto Haryana in 1814-1815, took along this Bengal painter specialising in the Murshidabad style that emphasised landscapes, distinct from Delhi and Lucknavi styles that focused on portraiture. Sitaram is said to have been influenced by the Daniells and Chinnery, and blended their technical expertise with the skills of miniature painting to produce about 250 watercolour paintings of the trip. Further expeditions of Hastings in Bengal and up North have also been documented by Sitaram, who influenced the Delhi Mughal painters so as to cause them to experiment in portraiture that wasn't wholly in profile, something that had not been done for 200 years. In this painting, we see the sky being treated similar to how the Western artists did, but the ground has more of the Indian burnt amber look to it.

So little is known about Seetaram...my all time favorite Company artist! Thank you Shashi Kolar for highlighting his contribution to Indian art in the earlier part of 19th century. Where may I know is the source of your information from?

Hello Mr. Yadalam. This is from a book called "Interaction of Cultures: Indian and Western Painting, 1780-1910 : The Ehrenfeld Collection" which is out of print at the moment, but a treasure trove of such information.

This information about Seetaram is documented in the print catalogue of the Ehrenfeld collection ( Interaction of Cultures - Indian & Western Paintings 1780-1910). The catalogue cover itself uses the only Seetaram painting in the collection. J P Losty of the British Library identified the Ehrenfeld painting as Seetaram's & the leitmotif for identification actually is the elephant here in this RBSI uploaded painting & the one in the Ehrenfeld one which has a similar elephant in one corner ( see - http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/140012205 ). The catalogue describes in detail JP Losty's research & success in acquiring all 10 albums of Seeta Ram's works, over several years starting 1970, when Seetaram's drawings of fruits & plants came up in Sotheby's July 15, 1970 auction. Four years later Losty bought 8 other albums at Sotheby's July 9, 1974 auction." There are 230 mostly large-sized watercolours, distributed over 10 albums". It appears that Losty started his research on seeta ram's works through a comparison of Montgomery Martin's reference to Creighton's drawings of the ruins of Gaur, Bengal (1806) & Hastings expedition of Gaur & Pandua (1817). Sita Ram is referred to as "Bengal draftsman" in the journal of his employer, Hastings, according to Jerry Losty's research." He most likely had direct contact with artists such as George Chinnery & Charles D'oyly. "

Thanks Shashi Kolar, I already have a copy of this book in my collection!! Should make time to read it. : )

Me too. I checked all Mildred Archer, Rohtagi, P. Godrej books & catalogues in my library after Shashi Kolar's first comment. No trace of Seetaram. Finally traced it to Ehrenfeld book.

Admire your tenacity Ratnesh Mathur! : )

Mr Mathur Re: " Hastings intervention in the Oudh/Awadh (Persian) wars with the Rohilla (Afghans) is the big break that East India co. got. And the one that Hastings was tried for." I think that you might be confusing Sita Ram's benefactor, the First Marquess of Hastings ( Francis Rawdon-Hastings), with Mr Warren Hastings (who never accepted a peerage)... Governor-General's both - thirty years apart ...

thanks for correcting that, Julian Craig. yes, my error. Sitaram though does cover rohilkhand/rampur in two of his paintings, I see online.

<3'