Picture Details
Coconut tree, flowers and fruit. Watercolour and gouache on paper.
Partner:
Kew GardensImage reference:
ILLUS187.0/174.0WOrigin:
Indian SubcontinentArtist / Date:
Unknown, c.1800Size:
295 x 405 mmDescription:
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This illustration is one of several studies of Indian plants held at Kew, drawn with brightly coloured paints on thin, poor quality paper. The coco-nut itself has been illustrated in cross-section, the flowers of the palm appearing to the left. European scientists frequently employed Indian artists to illustrate the plants they were studying, particularly around the beginning of the 19th Century. Artists employed by the East India Company were encouraged to tone down the bright colours traditionally used in Indian painting. New art materials and European prints of flowers and plants were circulated in an effort to influence the artists output, and set the standard by which they should work.
By the 1820's Indian artists such as Vishnu Prasad and Guradayal produced paintings of remarkable subtlety and accuracy and, fortunately, created works of art that had an individual Eastern character far removed from the botanical prints circulated from the West
