Overview

Among the museum's varied collections is an outstanding group of unusually large pictures of court life that were painted at Udaipur from around 1700 until as late as the 1940s. Ambitiously conceived and teeming with lively detail, these scenes of durbar assemblies, state processions, hunting expeditions, elephant fights, festivals and other royal pastimes are without parallel in Indian painting of the period. They vividly evoke a courtly way of life that has now disappeared. As works of art, they reveal the resilient imagination of the traditional Mewar artists under the influences of the Mughal school and later of Western art and photography. Almost unknown until the first publication of this volume in 1990, these remarkable paintings are here fully discussed and illustrated in colour.

Full Product Details

9780944142295

Table of Contents

Reviews

The well reproduced images (and many details) provide superb and often unique documentation of court life, with thorough explanations of the events and lists of participants frequently given in lengthy inscriptions on the reverse sides. Mr Topsfield knows the history of Udaipur and Mewar State well, and draws widely from contemporary historical accounts to further explain and enliven each work. When possible, specific locales and architectural complexes are also identified, sometimes for the first time, making this a fine sourcebook for the historian as well as the art- or architectural historian. -- Milo C Beach, Journal of the American Oriental Society

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available