Crossing Cultural Frontiers English 2011

Renaissance painting on biblical themes, full of exoticisms and great naturalism, inspired Mughal patrons, Akbar (r. 1556-1605), Jahangir (r. 1605-1627), Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1657) and their court painters active at Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Lahore and Delhi. Akbar's drives in search of truth in religion drew Christianity and its images close to the people of India. It proved to be a friendly meet between the East and the West and from there emerged a distinct Mughal entity in the art of India. The rulers and the artists of the Deccan Sultanates also showed interest in biblical pictures. The artists active at Bijapur and Golconda adapted conventions of Renaissance art and interpreted European subjects in Indian atmosphere. A sequence of the biblical themes in Indian art till the rise of Bengal school is suggested to form another volume. The present study analyzes the nature and nurture of biblical art in India and its far-reaching impact on the art of India an aspect of study too frequently ignored by the Indian art historians. Dr. Verma meticulously scrutinizes the elements of Renaissance humanism in Indian art and carefully interprets Christian signs and symbols and their relevance in support of an imperial ideology of the rulers. The present volume will interest serious scholars and students of history and culture of medieval India, the art historians, connoisseurs of art and those interested in the development of art in South Asia. The volume in hand, generously illustrated with 147 images in colour and black-and-white, unveils nearly all facets of the life of Jesus Christ and the works of the great masters of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries India....