An 'Authentic' Indian Summer: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur and A Lush Indian Landscape at the British Museum

Today’s London Times tell us to prepare for an Indian Summer, if we’re crossing the pond. A typical tourist trip to the British Museum will leave us transported to a different continent: India.

Welcome to Garden & Cosmos, the Royal Paintings of Jodhpur and India Landscape, Kew at the British Museum.

Inside the British Museum, we will find 54 of the royal paintings of Jodhpur, depicting a culture that for two centuries dominated courtly life. The huge, lavish paintings are on loan from the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, set up by Gaj Singh II, the current maharajah of Jodhpur and have never been seen in Europe.

There’s no doubt that this exhibit bears witness to the splendour of a bygone era. The collaboration with Kew Gardens is essential to recreating an Indian experience, one that will feature music, poetry and other events throughout the summer.

My imagination is on fire already with words like mountain paths, exotic blossoms and Rajasthan. FYI, I’m studying tantra as well, so I’m prewired to receive news of this exhibit.

A Himalayan forest stretches up to the main portico: rhododendrons flower among huge boulders, marigolds and blue poppies peep out, shaded by banyan, mango and walnut trees. Coconut palms are interspersed with peepul trees, which are said to have once shaded the Buddha as he meditated. Farther on, the forest gives way to subtropical India: lotus flowers cluster in a pool.

The fauna and foliage has been chosen to link back to paintings features in the exhibit. See landscape map.

In a sad reminder of colonial rule, the London Times writes: when the British appeared, the rulers’ power withered away and so did the artistic life of their courts. The paintings, numbering several hundred, were largely forgotten, put away in palace drawers or dusty storehouses. Protected from light and dirt, however, they have survived with their brilliant colours intact. And, as such, they represent a vibrant record of the varying aesthetic tastes and political and spiritual views of three generations at the Jodhpur court.

I regret to say that the paintings were already seen in Washington, curated by Debra Diamond and presented at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

Enjoy this informative audio and visual guide from the Garden and Cosmos exhibit. Anne