Views of India

India in the late eighteenth century was an unusual mixture of two worlds. The East India Company exercised control over a small portion of the country, from the increasingly European styled cities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. Elsewhere in India ancient ways of life continued as they had done for centuries. Rajas and nawabs ruled small kingdoms, and vast areas of the country remained largely unexplored and were covered in dangerous mountainous terrain or thick dense jungle.  It was this exotic world of myths and legends, dotted with imposing forts, palaces and ancient ruins that excited a small courageous band of European Artists, who risked everything, to document a country and way of life that was almost unknown to the outside world.  As part of Asian Art in London 2019, Rob Dean Art and the Grosvenor Gallery present a selection of these early views of India by Western artists.