Thanjavur was a seat of music. Thanjavur has the legacy of painting from chola period. The famous Thanjavur Fresco painting in the Bragadeeswar temple is compared with Ajanta and Ellora painting. The tradition was improved by The Nayak Kings with Vijayanagara technique. Later the Maratha Kings improved the style of painting. Now the Maratha style of painting is known as. Thanjavur style of painting. It has little variation from other styles and certain influences of others. Most of the paintings drawn after 1750 have the influence of Moghul art and later British. We can find the Tanjore painting mostly in four forms as wall painting, wooden painting, glass painting and paintings on paper. Quite a number of wooden paintings and glass paintings are available in many temples, mutts, museums etc. Mostly we could see that the body of the portrait is decorated with gold foils and faces with big eyeballs.

A painting of Sarasvati, the Godless of learning, displayed in the Library is a typical Tanjore- style painting, believed be of the 18th century. The smiling face is so graceful that every visitor to the Library admires it.

Adi Sankara, with his "Chin Mudra" seated on the lotus flower is teaching the path of enlighten to his four disciples.

This is also a Tanjore style of painting depicting Samartha Ramadoss. He was the Guru of the great Shivaji of Maharashtra and his descendants.

This is one of the biggest wooden paintings of this Library. It depicts the mythological scene of the punishment to Krishna by his mother Yasodha and relief of the curse of two saints, who were in tree forms.

Pictorial with letter description in Telugu in three sheets . Each sheet illustrates a Kanda. The first three kandas, Balakanda, Ayodhyakanda and Aranya kanda are illustrated.

This book contains many pictures of birds painted in true colours. One of the birds is the Falcon of Rajah Serfoji II. The Nawab of Udayagiri presented it for the King to Bhujanga Rao and Hari Rao when they were sent to Hyderabad. Rajah Serfoji II had a real judge of a horse, a cool head and a deadly shot of the tiger. Serfoji had the Urdu book on Falconry "Bajinamah" which deals with the treatment of diseases of birds translated into Marathi.

This book consists the view of fine Royal Palanquins with full decoration. A real wooden palanquin used by H.H.M.Umabai Saheb is exhibited in the Museum.

The King Serfoji's military costumes are drawn in 17 pictures. These paintings illustrate the rank of the military servants and the colour of the dresses offered to them in those days.

The Science of the Horse: -This illustrated book embodies the teachings of sages Salihotra, Dinapati, Garga, Nakula, Gana and others.

The Science of the Elephant – The authorship of this work is attributed to Palakapyamuni who is said to be the offspring of Samagayanamuni and a female elephant. The Sanskrit text is given on the upper halves of pages and on the lower halves, a metrical translation in Marathi of the text above.

A Marathi translation of Aesop's Fables , with beautiful colour illustrations. The book was composed under the orders of Maharaja Serfoji in Saka 1728, which corresponds, to 1806 A.D. After each fable, is added a note in Marathi on the obvious purport of the fable and one or two verses in Sanskrit about the fable and its lesson.

A bound fullscap size Marathi manuscript with a beautiful illustration of Baja, a bird that was purchased from the Nawab of Udayagiri for Maharaja Serfoji by Bhujangarow Harirow when he was sent to Hyderabad (Deccan) for the purchase of horses. This bird was brought to Tanjore on 29th January 1803.