Hindoo costumes

Title
Hindoo costumes
Year/Period
Late 18th-early 19th centuries
Region
Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, South India
Material
Dimension
Image size: 34 x 23 cm
Accession No.
1998-00475

This maroon hard bound book entitled ‘Hindoo Costumes' contains a set of 16 paintings. The paintings comprise costumes that are based on people’s professions, castes and the regions they came from, in this case, mostly from Tamil Nadu, south India. They are done on a dark foreground with a blue or light brown background. The shaded areas are more subtle and the clouds in the sky are more stylized than the typical Tanjore style. The figures are realistic and proportionate and their stance is more firmly grounded than other paintings of this period. The book mentions a Sophia Anna Woolfe who brought these paintings to England around the end of the 18th century.