Child Kannan painting

       
                                                                Child Kannan painting
                                                                 चाइल्ड कन्नन पेंटिंग 

Ancient Artists at Thanjore

                  Tanjore paintings were painted by 'Moochys or Artists of India' according to the British chronicler Charles Gold in his bookOriental Drawings published in 1806. Traditionally, it is well known that the Raju community of Tanjore and Tiruchi, also called as Jinigara or Chitragara and the Nayudu community of Madurai were the artists who executed paintings in the Tanjore style.

                  The artists (Rajus & Naidus) were originally Telugu speaking people from the artistically vibrant "Rayalseema" region of Andhra, and moved to Tamil Nadu in the wake of the fall of the Vijayanagar empire and the Nayak rule in Madurai & Tanjore     

                                                                                                 The art was a sacred task to be performed with ritual purity and humility by the master craftsmen, many of whom chose to remain anonymous and never signed their paintings, true to the Indian artistic tradition. However a few works signed by artists are also known. C. Kondiah Raju, the famous calendar artist from Kovilpatti, was one of the illustrious descendants to make a name as an artist during modern times from the Raju community.

Tanjore Painting

             Tanjore paintings are characterised by rich, flat and vivid colors, simple iconic composition, glittering gold foils overlaid on delicate but extensive gesso work and inlay of glass beads and pieces or very rarely precious and semi-precious gems. In Thanjavur paintings one can see the influence of Deccani, Vijayanagar, Maratha and even European styles of painting. Essentially serving as devotional icons, the subjects of most paintings are Hindu gods, goddesses, and saints. Episodes from Hindu puranas and religious texts were visualised, drawn and painted with the main figure or figures placed in the central section of the picture (mostly within an architecturally delineated space such as a mantapa) surrounded by several subsidiary figures, themes and subjects.

 There are also many instances when Jain, Sikh, Muslim, other religious and even seculasubjects were depicted in Tanjore paintings.