For what purpose did the British Colonial officers commissioned local artists to paint scenes around them?

For documentation

The correct answer is Option (2) → For documentation

The British colonial officers commissioned local Indian artists to paint scenes around them so that they could document people, places, customs, festivals, trades, and landscapes of India. These paintings served as visual records of life in colonial India and were often used to understand, control, and administer the region better. This style of painting came to be known as the Company School of Painting.

"Art in India had a different purpose prior to the coming of the British. It could be seen as statues on temple walls, miniature paintings that often illustrated manuscripts, decoration on the walls of mud houses in villages, among many other examples. With the colonial rule around the eighteenth century, the English were charmed by different manners and customs of people of all ranks, tropical flora and fauna, and varying locales. Partly for documentation and partly for artistic reasons, many English officers commissioned local artists to paint scenes around them to get a better idea of the natives."