I recently visited the Yale Center for British Art, one of my favorite museums.
The exhibition, Painters, Ports, and Profits: Artists and the East India Company, 1750–1850, provided some insight into the world the British encountered. It also offered a feast for the eyes. If you’re able to get to New Haven before 21 June 2026, I highly recommend a visit. If visiting isn’t possible, you’ll be able to find a great many of the works online.* The YCBA has done a wonderful job of digitizing its vast collection, and I’ve referred to those images many, many times in the course of writing my books.
Though I’ve set only one book in India, and only briefly, that was decades ago, when historical sources were much more limited: mainly books—often through interlibrary loan—and museums I was able to visit. Consequently, there was a great deal I didn’t understand, particularly about the (primarily) younger sons who went to India in hopes of making their fortunes, or at least making a living of some kind.
Certainly the East India Company prospered. But not everybody did. We’re all aware of the dark side of this world.
I was surprised, though, when I read Rory Muir’s fascinating Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune. Not all the British gentlemen who went to India came back rich. Many lived impoverished lives, and too often, those lives were very short. I get the impression that the artist George Chinnery may have brought his troubles upon himself.
Still, it must have seemed as though anything was possible in India. Imagine the reaction of a young Englishman coming upon Great Chaitya Hall at Karla in the late 19th century.
What would he think of this wedding procession?
In so many ways, it’s a vastly different world from England.
The Indian lady below is here, in the collection of the Yale Art Gallery. The wonderful page from Lady Coote’s album is on loan from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The exhibition included other pages from this beautiful album.
There were portraits of horses and other animals as well as plant life.
And of course these works would not exist if not for artists and their materials. It was wonderful to see the paint box and the book on mixing tints.
These two charming images of the god Krishna captivated me, and seem a fitting finish to this post.
*You can also order the exhibition catalogue through the online bookstore.