Rembrandt And The Inspiration Of India

Exhibition at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 13 March - 24 June 2018

This exhibition catalogue examines the impact of Indian art and culture on Rembrandt (1606-1669) in the late 1650s. By pairing Rembrandt's twenty-two extant drawings of Shah Jahan, Jahangir, Dara Shikoh, and other Mughal courtiers with Mughal paintings of similar compositions, the book critiques the prevailing notion that Rembrandt "brought life" to the static Mughal art.

Written by scholars of both Dutch and Indian art, the essays in this volume instead demonstrate how Rembrandt's contact with Mughal painting inspired him to draw in an entirely new, refined style on Asian paper-an approach that was shaped by the Dutch trade in Asia and prompted by the curiosity of a foreign culture.