Artists & the East India Company

May 30, 2026 Loretta Chase

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.

Yet these rooms bear a strong resemblance to those we’d see in an English country house. You might want to view these online, to zoom in on all the detail. The summer room is here. The winter room is here.

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.

Women's work at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida

March 29, 2026 Loretta Chase

Photograph of a Georgia O'Keefe painting depicting a closeup of a poppy. — Georgia O’Keefe, “Poppy,” 1927

Here’s one more collection of art for you, in celebration of National Women’s History Month. While in St. Petersburg, I visited the MFA twice. On the second visit, I had time to focus on a special exhibition, “Creative Freedom | Women as Decorative Arts Entrepreneurs and Connoisseurs, c. 1900-1940.” In other words, the exhibit included splendid works of art by women as well as works collected by women. According to the museum’s website,

“The pioneering spirit of these women is the same spirit that built this museum. Our founder, Margaret Acheson Stuart (1898-1980), was a woman of this era, whose passion and independence created the legacy we all share.”

As you’ve no doubt noticed, when I take photos in museums, I try to include the information cards. It’s definitely a memory aid, and it’s particularly helpful when, as in this case, the museum does not have its collection online, and I can’t go back and gather information from their website. Also, with a plethora of photos, one can simply let the cards do most of the talking—not that anybody needs to read them to enjoy these beautiful works.

Unsurprisingly, the exhibit included Tiffany lamps and information about Clara Woolcott Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls.

Among other learning experiences, I discovered Marguerite Zorach and realized that a woman, Mariah Longworth Nichols Storer, founded Rookwood Pottery, which I’ve always loved (well, the names refers to ravens, after which I named one of my fictional heroes).

I also learned that it was a woman, Rose Cecil O’Neill, who created the Kewpie Doll and made a highly successful business with her invention. The rattles and teething rings were part of that business. This same woman created a number of works for the Suffragist Movement. The example below, of one of her postcards, is from the collection of the Missouri History Museum.

And finally, some impressive works in glass. The yellow vase deserved a 360° view. I apologize for the unsteadiness of my camera work.

The Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement

March 7, 2026 Loretta Chase

The image shows five different Tiffany lamps — Tiffany lamps at the Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement

The Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg, Florida, is a fairly recent entrant on the local museum scene. It is also a spectacular one, starting with its spacious and modern—no, not Arts & Crafts style—building, which makes quite a showplace for this extensive collection.

This being Women’s History month, the majority of images I’m including are works by women. I’ll start with the Tiffany lamps. Not until the early part of the current century were we made aware of how much of this work was done by women, namely, Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls.

But Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls created more than lamps.

I thought the Medusa lamp designed by Elizabeth Eaton Burton (1869-1937) was pretty spectacular—and it was nice to get the inside view. The Grueby Faience Company, in Massachusetts, also made beautiful works. But I’ve kept those to a minimum, because some of you are probably thinking, Enough with the lamps already. Still, I would have taken more photos, but there was so much museum to see, and not enough time to see it all.

Well, I didn’t know that a woman ran the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson. The museum has Helen Ransdowne Resor as president when they moved into New York’s Graybar Building in 1927. Other sources refer to her as a vice president or manager. Clearly, she ran the creative side, whatever the title was. And how much more aesthetically pleasing was the office she and others worked in after the move. I loved that the museum recreated one of the offices, with the pebbled glass and Samuel Yellin’s beautiful ironwork.

There was a great deal more fine ironwork to be seen, as the background to this image makes clear, but I focused on this bronze heron by Marie Zimmerman.

Elizabeth Ethel Copeland, who also worked in the Boston area, created more of a medieval look with her enamel and metalwork.

And yes, I do like a pretty bathroom. Some years ago, I posted a series of photos, “Loos of London.” This one, done by the Grueby Faience and Tile Company (lamps aren’t all they made), I want in my house.

More tile work: Frederick Hurten Rhead’s peacock panels. Until I looked him up, after seeing these works, I didn’t know that he was the one who designed Fiesta ware. I began collecting in the 1970s, so ended up with some of the early stuff, but I didn’t collect to collect; I used it, and loved it. When the new ceramics came out in the 1980s, I bought those, too. Most of my collection is now in other households, but I retain a few of my favorite pieces.

More tile work, this time designed by Edward Burne-Jones, the last of the Pre-Raphaelite artists.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time, and didn’t make it to the graphics galleries. But I leave you with these very different but beautiful works by women artists Anna Marie Valentien and Adelaide Alsop Robineau.You can read a bit more about Valentien’s figural vase here at the museum site and the Metropolitan Museum (NYC) has a number of Robineau’s works online.

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