Ace painter Rathin Mitra breathes his last at 95

Kolkata: Painter Rathin Mitra, well-known for his sketches on Kolkata's heritage, passed away on Monday. He was 95-years-old and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Mitra, who was inspired by Radharaman Mitra's well known book on Kolkata's history 'Kolkata Darpan', left painting and began to sketch Kolkata's heritage. He travelled extensively across Bengal and sketched old buildings, monuments, temples and places of importance.

The sketches of old buildings by Mitra drew the attention of KMC, which came forward and declared a list of heritage buildings at a time when the builders were pulling down the old structures to make room for multi-storey buildings across the city in the late 1980s. The sketches of Mitra were published in many vernacular and English newspapers along with short notes on the sketches.

Mitra was a teacher in many art colleges in Europe as well and had travelled extensively in the West and India.