THE ARTIST REMBRANDT (1606-1669) produced a set of 23 drawings based on Mughal miniature paintings that were created in India in the early 1600s. In her article (see: https://mapacademy.io/what-rembrandt-learned-from-mughal-miniatures/), Shrey Maurya wrote:

“Perhaps the original Mughal miniatures arrived from the Dutch trading post in India. It’s also possible that he encountered the paintings in the collections of wealthy traders and various Dutch East India Company officials, who were his friends and often his clients.”

Shrey added:

“These drawings are remarkable for they allow us to understand the incredible global network established by trade ships which allowed an exchange of cultures to take place on a global scale.”

Recently, we visited an excellent exhibition at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes: “Beyond the Page. South Asian Miniatures and Britain 1600 to now.” Amongst the many beautiful and intriguing exhibits, there were a few that illustrated the influence of Mughal painting on Western European artists. Although none of the above-mentioned Rembrandt drawings were on display, what I saw interested me greatly. I have been long aware of the influence of western artistic trends on the works of artists from the Subcontinent, but not the other way around.

An artist, Willem Schellinks (1623-1678), one of Rembrandt’s contemporaries is represented in the MK Gallery’s exhibition. He, like Rembrandt, is believed to have studied an album of Mughal paintings, which was thought to have been in the possession of the English art collector Alethea Howard (1585-1654), Countess of Arundel, who lived in Amsterdam from 1641 until her death. Incidentally, her portrait was painted by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). In addition to sketches, Schellinks is known to have painted at least six paintings that contain Indian imagery (see the detail above). One of these and a sketch are on display at the MK Gallery.

In the same room as the Schellincks works, there is a painting by William Rothenstein (1872-1945). Drawing inspiration from traditional Mughal miniature paintings in the India Office Collection (in London), he created his “Sir Thomas Roe’s embassy to the court of Jahangir”, which was completed in 1924.

Before seeing the exhibition at Milton Keynes, I knew that Rothenstein had an interest in Indian culture. For example, he helped Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) to find accommodation in Hampstead’s Vale of Health in 1911-1912, but the well-produced exhibition catalogue provided me with information that was new to me. For example, Rothenstein had visited India and was a collector of Rajput paintings and drawings. In addition, in 1910 he was a co-founder of the India Society of London, whose aim was to bring Indian Art, in its many forms, to the attention of audiences in Britain and the world. So, it is maybe unsurprising that he chose to paint his picture of Sir Thomas Roe (c1581-1644) meeting with Emperor Jahangir (1569-1627) in a style that was influenced by the painters who would have around at the time of that historic rendezvous, sometime between 1616 and 1619.

Close to Rothenstein’s painting, there is an image by Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), who was a nephew of Rabindranath Tagore. This chromolithograph, “The Last Moments of Shah Jahan”, was created in 1903 in the style of traditional Mughal miniature painting. It is interesting to note that Abanindranath had never encountered Mughal paintings until he was in his twenties. He was introduced to them by another of the founders of the India Society, the art historian Ernest Binfield Havell (1861-1934). Havell had served the Madras School of Art as Superintendent for a decade from 1884, and in 1896 became Superintendent of the the Government School of Art in Calcutta. According to Wikipedia:

“Havell worked with Abanindranath Tagore to redefine Indian art education. He established the Indian Society of Oriental Art, which sought to adapt British art education in India so as to reject the previous emphasis placed on European traditions in favour of revivals of native Indian styles of art, in particular the Mughal miniature tradition.”

The works by Schellincks, Rothenstein, and Abinindranath Tagore, all on display at the MK Gallery, vividly demonstrate the cross-cultural fertilization that began when Europeans first set foot on Indian soil with intentions that were far from being cultural.  I have written about only a few of the wonderful exhibits in the show, but all of the others on display are not only beautiful but are filled with a wide variety of deep meanings. Of the many exhibitions I have seen this year, the one showing at the MK Gallery until the 28^th of January 2024 is by far the best.