There are paintings at different museums and art centers by British (or European) artists who visited India during the Raj period. These paintings depict the architecture, places, events, and glimpses of daily lives in India during the Raj.

A series of such paintings is by Thomas and William Daniell. The Daniells visited India from 1786 to 1793. They took three tours of the country. The first was up the Ganga from Kolkata (then Calcutta) to Garhwal hills. The second tour was around Mysore and Chennai (then Madras). Their final destination in India was Mumbai (then Bombay). On their return to England they published six volumes of Oriental Scenery in 1808. The Victoria Memorial in Kolkata houses many paintings by Daniells. These paintings offer a visual narrative of the landscapes and life of that time.

Another such artist is William Carpenter. He travelled to India from 1850 to 1856. He covered mostly the western and northern parts of India (political map of that time). His paintings mostly depicted street scenes, peoples and architecture. After his return to England, he exhibited 275 paintings in 1881. The entire collection was later procured by Victoria and Albert Museum.

Other ways of documenting lives through paintings exist. George Turnbull came to India in 1851 for a railway project to connect Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Delhi. During the construction phase, the British engineers developed sketches and watercolour paintings. These artworks depicted the construction and landscapes at the project sites. They showed the destruction brought to nature at the project sites. The artworks also portrayed various challenges and successes. The sketches made the project document a visual narrative. Later, the document was acquired by the National Railway Museum.

During the Raj period, British (or European) artists created paintings. These artworks depicted the Indian landscapes and lives through their perspective. Moreover, these paintings were documented in a systematic way. They appeared in the form of exhibitions, volumes of oriental scenery, and visual narratives. In all means, these paintings narrate the lives and nature in India during the British imperialism era.

(Views are personal.)