Kota painting is a sub-style painting of Hadoti School (Hadoti school is a part of Rajasthani Painting). The Kota style came into the limelight in 1952 when Col. T.G. Gear Anderson presented his personal collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum and some of the Paintings were in styles different from Bundi style. For this reason the type of painting which flourished in Kota is termed the Kota Style, which may also be considered as sub branch of the Bundi-Style. But because of its originality and high artistic quality its separate identify should be recognized.

Development: -
Favorably impressed by Madho Singh Hada, son of Rao Ratan Singh of Bundi state, Emperor Shahjahan gifted him a few territories as a token of esteem. As a result an independent state of Kota came into being in 1631. But on the basis of available facts its establishment is considered more likely by the end of the 17th century.

 It is difficult to distinguish between the earlier paintings and those in the Bundi style. Credit for creating an independent Kota style goes to Raja Ram Singh (1696- 1705). Many paintings of his period are available even today. They reveal that the impact of the Bundi style on the Kota style was considerable.

After Raja Ram Singh, Maharawal Bhim Singh (1703-1720) paid special regard to the Krishna-Bhakti tradition. He surrendered his palace and capital to Lord Krishna after having built a temple and changed his name to Krishan Dass and Kota's name to Nand Gram and Barsana of Shergarh.

Thus he made Kota Braj Bhoomi," and this new move greatly influenced the artistic world of Rajasthan. Paintings of his time depicting Krishna-Charitra are fairly easy to obtain. After Maharawal Bhim Singh, Arjun Singh (1720-1764) also preserved the traditional painting of Krishna-Charitra. Many paintings belonging to this time are available in the State Museum, Kota. A pictorial Bhagwad text compiled in 1760 is presumed to be in the Mewar style, but many scholars believe it belongs to the Kota-Bundi style pictorial texts. This text comprises 1190 pages and hundreds of small and big paintings.

For a new landmark in the Kota style of painting credit goes to art-loving Raja Unsaid Singh (1771-1820). He also had a strong inclination for hunting. The dense forests of Kota abounded with many wild animals like lion, tiger, cheetah, pig, deer. In the reign of Umaid Singh artists took a keen interest in depicting hunting themes, and the Kota style acquired a great reputation for painting such scenes.

In the darbar hall of the palace many frescoes are based on the Krishna-Lila epic, and among hundreds of miniatures in the Great Palace many relate to Krishna-Charitra. Two pictorial texts belonging to the beginning of the 19th century depict the significance of the Pushti sect. One of them a text of 45 pages entitled Valla-bhotsava-Chandrika decorated with 38 beautiful pictures relating to Vallabhacharya and his seven sons, seven attributes, and various festivals in 12 months had been created. The other, Gita Panchmel, is a similar artistic text of six paintings concerning Radha-Krishna and their attributes.

This tradition of the Kota style continued to be popular in the reign of Raja Ram Singh 11 (1822-1866), but the British influence heralded its downfall like that of others.

The Kota style has some characteristics of the Bundi style, but also its own distinct features. Because of the influence of the Vallabha sect, male and female links are like those of goswamis and priests. Stout bodies, Shining faces, bulging eyes are special features of the Kota style. Application of green, red and golden colors in Kota style painting is very pleasing to see. Animals painted in this style include deer, tiger, lion and pig.

Kota paintings look very natural in their appearance and are calligraphic in their execution. The reign of Jagat Singh (1658-1684) saw vivacious colors and bold lines being used in portraitures. With the arrival of Arjun Singh (1720-1723), the painting started depicting males with a long hooked nose. 18th century was also the time for hunting scenes, Ragamalas, and portraits as the themes. Ram Singh II (1827-1866) ordered the depiction of worship, hunting, darbar and processions in paintings.

Kota is also admired popular as related to Hadoti School…