In the late 17th Century, East India Company galleons sailed up the Bay of Bengal into the waterlogged delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra and weighed anchor. Over time, Calcutta became the hub for Company trade, the capital of the sub-continent and seat of the province of Bengal. Among them was Flemish marine painter, printmaker and ethnographer, Balthazar Solvyns, perhaps the only European artist to have documented the people and material culture of Bengal in the decade he lived there. ‘The whole spectrum of society’An exhibition by DAG featuring the 288 etchings of Solvyns that he titled Les Hindous opened recently in New Delhi. Curated by Tillotson, the exhibition is accompanied by a book that introduces, illustrates and contextualises this body of work.

Source: The Hindu August 12, 2021 08:14 UTC