TEN PAINTINGS OF INDIAN VILLAGERS AND ARTISANSPossibly Calcutta (Kolkata), Eastern India, 20th centuryComprising ten different illustrations of the crafts, professions and lives of Indian villagers, opaque pigments on paper, the vertical compositions using bold primary colour, attempting realistic rendering and portraits in tune with Company School techniques and teachings, the three women depicted all as bearers, the men portrayed in a variety of professions, mounted, glazed and framed, 35cm x 26cm each.Sketches and paintings depicting Indian villagers at work were one of the favourite subjects of Western painters working and travelling in the Subcontinent. The Company School of Calcutta produced some of the most charming examples of these rural paintings, acting as a fresco of the society and costumes of the time. This example is clearly a later imitation in Indian hand echoing the Company School production of the late 19th century.