Company Paintings: Indian Paintings of the British Period

To please their British patrons, Indian artists of the 18th and 19th centuries blended European and Indian styles in what came to be called ``company painting.'' This delightful catalog, which samples the large collection of such paintings in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, is a valuable record of customs, castes and a way of life that have largely vanished. Highlights among the 152 color plates include meticulously observed pictures of plants, animals and birds, jewel-like paintings of festivals and of Hindu deities, studies of artisans at their various trades, exquisite views of the Taj Mahal and of temple architecture, and carefully rendered portraits on paper, glass, ivory and mica. Archer, a British art historian and curator, is a companionable guide to a genre that seduces with its charm, vivacity and beauty, as well as with its historical interest. (Sept.)