This Tanjore-style painting depicts a couple who belongs to the Rachavar caste. The man is painted with a watch in his left hand.Stylistically, these paintings are connected to the Tanjore-style painting of Indian castes, costumes and ethnic types. Men and women were painted holding tools of their trade. Around the late 18th century, backgrounds were bright blue or yellow with black looped shadows and a line of tangled clouds in the sky. This was replaced around the 1800s by a great cumulus cloud and a realistic background of trees, bushes and huts. By the 1830s, a more realistic style evolved that comes closest to the European style.Paintings such as this piece were painted for the European patrons by Indian artists incorporating European realism with traditional style.
