This painting comes under the broad category known as “Company paintings” – referring to a variety of Indo-European styles that were so called because many of their patrons worked for the European East India Companies (EICs). Local artists realised that patronage was shifting from the old Indian aristocracy to the new European traders and military officers in the suburbs and began to adapt to their new patrons’ tastes.The main body of Company painting in Eastern and Upper India developed in the late 18th century in Murshidabad, West Bengal where contact with the Europeans were particularly strong as the Portuguese, British, Dutch and French EICs all maintained factories at Cossimbazar, an important trading centre. This painting was most likely commissioned by a British patron as evident by the factory’s architecture and the depiction of the Union Jack flag proudly flown in front of the building.
