In the eighteenth century, local artists, some of whom had migrated from the courts of Murshidabad, Lucknow or Delhi, adapted their traditional way of painting to document the world around them. They came to rely more on close observation than on memory and rule books. Close observation was a striking feature of which art?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → European art
Option (1) Japanese art — Incorrect. Two Japanese artists came with Okakura and taught the wash technique at Shantiniketan. Close observation is not named as a feature of their art.
Option (2) Persian art — Incorrect. Old Persian paintings are linked to the calligraphic line that Chughtai used in his wash paintings, not to close observation.
Option (3) European art — Correct. Close observation is named as a striking feature of the European art. Local artists took it up in place of memory and rule books.
Option (4) Chinese art — Incorrect. Chinese masters are named only for Chughtai’s stylistic affinities with them. Close observation is not linked to them.
Note: This topic was not named in the CUET 2026 syllabus, but it was part of the NCERT chapter. In 2025 and 2026, NTA also asked questions on topics in NCERT that the CUET syllabus did not name. So our mocks have questions from every part of the NCERT chapter, to give you enough practice. Read the whole chapter, not only the sub-topics named in the syllabus.
NCERT (2026-27): “Company Painting …The paintings were largely made on paper by local artists, some of whom had migrated from erstwhile courts of Murshidabad, Lucknow or Delhi. To please their new patrons, they had to adapt their traditional way of painting to document the world around them. This meant that they had to rely more on close observation, a striking feature of the European art, rather than memory and rule books, as seen in traditional art. It is this mixture of traditional and European style of painting that came to be known as the Company School of Painting.” |