Drawing from Mughal India in the Age of Rembrandt

The J. Paul Getty Museum April 8, 2018 Drawing from Mughal India in the Age of Rembrandt

To elucidate the importance of India for the Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606–1669) and other Europeans of his time, this symposium traces historical, political, economic, and artistic points of contact between Europe and the Mughal Indian Empire in the early modern period. Using the Getty’s exhibition Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India as their starting point, scholars will demonstrate how Mughal paintings and drawings were brought to Europe not as merely exotic curiosities, but also carried with them specific associations of political authority and exceptional artifice.

April 8, 2018

10:00–10:15 a.m. Welcome: Richard Rand, Associate Director for Collections, J. Paul Getty Museum

10:15–11:45 a.m. How Rembrandt Mediated Mughal Painting: Papering Over Global Art Benjamin Schmidt, Giovanni & Amne Costigan Endowed Professor, Department of History, University of Washington, Seattle

Rembrandt through Mughal Eyes Navina Haidar, Curator, Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

11:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Discussion Moderator: Catherine Glynn, Independent Scholar

12:15–1:45 p.m. Lunch (on your own)

1:45–3:15 p.m. Indo–Dutch Entanglements in the Age of Rembrandt Jos Gommans, Professor of Colonial and Global History, Institute for History, Leiden University

Philip Angel’s Indian Travels and their Literary and Artistic Echoes, 1650s–1670s Carolien Stolte, Assistant Professor, Institute for History, Leiden University

3:15–3:45 p.m. Discussion Moderator: Stephanie Schrader, Curator of Drawings, J. Paul Getty Museum

3:45–4:15 p.m. Break

4:15–5:35 p.m. Collecting Exotica, Picturing New Worlds Jessica Keating, Assistant Professor of Early Modern Art and Architecture, Carleton College

From Awadh to Avignon: Examining the French Reception of Mughal Art Chanchal Dadlani, Assistant Professor of Art History, Wake Forest University

5:35–6:00 p.m. Discussion Moderator: Yael Rice, Assistant Professor of Art & the History of Art and of Asian Languages and Civilizations, Amherst College

Registration Registration Advance registration is recommended. Visit http://bit.ly/mughalrembrandt or call (310) 440–7300 to register. Registration does not include parking, which is $15 per car and can be paid using the self–service pay stations.

Related Program India and the World: A History in Nine Stories Lecture by Naman Ahuja, Professor at School of Arts and Aesthetics Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi The Getty Center, Wednesday, May 23, 7:30 p.m. For information and reservations, visit getty.edu/360

Cover Images, Left: Shah Jahan (detail), about 1656–58. Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669). Dark brown ink and dark brown wash with scratching out on Asian paper toned with light brown wash, 22.5 × 17 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1978.38. Image © The Cleveland Museum of Art. Right: Jujhar Singh Bundela Kneels in Submission to Shah Jahan (detail), about 1630. Bichitr (Mughal, active 1615–1650). Gouache and gold on paper, 39 × 27.3 cm. Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library. Image © Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (CBL In 07A.16). Text and design © 2018 J. Paul Getty Trust