REMEMBERING CHARLES D’ OYLY
(c) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas
(1) WHO CONTRIBUTED SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
‘PATNA SCHOOL OF PAINTING’
(2) WHO SET UP THE LITHOGRAPHY PRESS AT PATNA IN 1823, WITH THE
NAME, ‘BIHAR LITHOGRAPHY’
BRIEF LIFE SKETCH OF CHARLES D’ OYLY
1. Charles D’Oyly (1781 - 1845) was civil servant, a painter,
and an amateur poet.
2. D’Oyly was the Collector of Dhaka from 1808 to 1817, where he learnt
painting from George Chinnery (famous English painter who spent most of his
life in Asia, especially India and Southern China), who was also at that time
in Dacca.
3. During that period, D’Oyly drew various types of pictures, especially the
Mughal ruins.
4. In 1821 he became Opium Agent in Patna and later promoted as the Commercial
Resident of Patna in 1831 and
5. Lastly the Senior Member of the East India Company’s Board of Customs, Salt,
Opium and of the Marine in 1833.
6. After his retirement in 1838, he lived the remainder of his life in Italy.
He became a baronet on the death of his father.
HIS WORKS BEFORE THE EUROPEAN AUDIENCE
1. His paintings and sketches of Dhaka of Indian characters and
landscapes were much reproduced,
2. His one long comic poem, Tom Row the Griffin achieved considerable
popularity and remained continuously in print in India throughout most of the
nineteenth century.
3. D’Oyly was one of those civilians who experimented with Indian paintings. He
painted numerous pictures taking India as the subject matter.
4. Sir Charles D’Oyly is one of the ‘exceptional few’ among Englishmen and
widely known, who contributed significantly to the development of Company or
‘Patna School of Painting’.
PATNA - RESIDENCE OF CHARLES D’ OYLY
In Patna, D’Oyly stayed in the Government mansion, north of the
race course (presently Gandhi Maidan), overlooking south. The revised edition
(1924) of Bihar and Orissa Gazetteers of Patna (by J. F. W. James, I.C.S.)
gives the brief description: -
“The house on the east of this building (Commissioner’s
Bungalow, presently A. N. Sinha Institute Campus), now occupied by the Civil
Surgeon, and the smaller bungalow which was formerly an appendage of the house,
are both old buildings. In the early nineteenth century the house was occupied
by the Opium Agents, Campbell and D’Oyly. Here Sir Charles D’Oyly when he was
Opium Agent of Bihar entertained Bishop Heber in 1824……”
The whole area (north of the present Gandhi Maidan) from the
Bankipur Girl’s High School to Uddhu Singh Nala (Anta Ghat, east of Patna
Collectorate campus) were part of the River Front of the then ‘Company Bagh’
and was the parade ground of the ‘Bankipur Cantonment’ (till it shifted to
Danapur by 1767). At that time, the Gandhi Maidan was the waterlogged low lying
area.
Till 1924, the riverfront of Bankipur was dotted with few
bungalows (with large garden all around) and one of them was of the ‘Opium
Agent of Bihar’ (which by then had became the official residence of civil
surgeon), where D’Oyly stayed. As time passed, the numbers of residential
quarters and complexes went on increasing. Later, Red Cross Building had blocked
the front-view of the then Charles D’Oyly’s Patna-residence.
The Government of Bihar has dismantled the building (where
D’Oyly had stayed), along with other residential quarters, to build
‘International Convention Centre’ in the north of the Gandhi Maidan.
CHARLES D’OYLY AND THE PATNA SCHOOL OF PAINTING
1. Charles D’Oyly came to Patna on transfer.
2. D’Oyly’s stay at Patna (1821 to 1833) was the most creative period in his
life.
3. During his stay in Patna (1823); the drawings of Dacca of D’Oyly begun to be
published in the form of folios from London. It was known as ‘Antiquities of
Dhaka’ along with the related history of Dhaka (Some Accounts of the City of
Dhaka).
4. D’ Oyly set up the lithography press at Patna in 1823 with the name, ‘Bihar
Lithography’.
5. D’Oyly published number of books from this press: - The Bihar Lithographic
Scrap Book, Indian Sports, Costumes of India, and ‘The Bird Book’.
6. He formed an amateur art society the ‘United Patna and Gaya Society’ or
‘Bihar School of Athens’ for the promotion of Arts and Sciences and for the
circulation of fun and merriment of all descriptions.
7. D’Oyly employed an artist ‘Jai Ram’ as his assistant, whose cousin ‘Hulas
Lal’ was a noted artist of the period.
8. He published the works of many Patna Qalam artists which included ‘Sita Ram’
also.
9. Later, Patna artists were constantly trying to adapt his style and subjects
as his prints had been appreciated in Europeans’ houses. Through the hands of
Charles D’Oyly, European influence came in the ‘Patna School of Painting’.
PICTURES
1. Patna-Residence (renovated) of Charles D'Oyly (but no more in
existence)
2. D'Oyly's publication
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