<P> The Modern Indian art movement in Indian painting is considered to have begun in Calcutta in the late nineteenth century. The old traditions of painting had more or less died out in Bengal and new schools of art were started by the British . Initially, protagonists of Indian art such as Raja Ravi Varma drew on Western traditions and techniques including oil paint and easel painting . A reaction to the Western influence led to a revival in primitivism, called as the Bengal school of art, which drew from the rich cultural heritage of India . It was succeeded by the Santiniketan school, led by Rabindranath Tagore's harking back to idyllic rural folk and rural life . Despite its country - wide influence in the early years, the importance of the School declined by the' forties' and now it is as good as dead . </P> <P> Oil and easel painting In India began in the starting of eighteenth century which saw many European artists, such as Zoffany, Kettle, Hodges, Thomas and William Daniell, Joshua Reynolds, Emily Eden and George Chinnery coming out to India in search of fame and fortune . The courts of the princely states of India were an important draw for European artists due to their patronage of the visual and performing arts and also their need for European style of portraits </P> <P> The merchants of the East India Company also provided a large market for native art . A distinct genre developed of watercolour painting on paper and mica in the later half of the 18th Century depicting scenes of everyday life, regalia of princely courts, and native festivities and rituals . Referred to as the "Company style" or "Patna style", it flourished at first in Murshidabad and spread to other cities of British suzerainty . The style is considered by authorities to be "of hybrid style and undistinguished quality". </P>

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