Strange and Wondrous: Prints of India from the Robert J. Del Bonta Collection
elisabettamarabotto
Elisabetta Marabotto of Saffronart suggests a visit to ‘Strange and Wondrous: Prints of India from the Robert J. Del Bonta Collection’ at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington
Nârâyana ou Vatapatrakai.” Jean Henri Marlet (1771–1847) and Co. after A. Géringer (19th century). Hand-colored lithograph on paper. From or after a French copy of J. J. Chabrelie, A. Géringer, Eugène Burnouf, and Eugène Jacquet, L’Inde Francaise (French India) (Paris: Chabrelie, 1827–35). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E079. Image Credit: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/delbonta.asp
London: Save the date for Arthur M. Sackler Gallery’s forthcoming exhibition in Washington: ‘Strange and Wondrous: Prints of India from the Robert J. Del Bonta Collection’.
The exhibition opens October 19 and runs until February 2014. The fifty artworks on display, which belong to the Robert J. Del Bontà Collection, include lithographs, engravings, aquatints and other prints illustrating sixteenth to twentieth century India through western eyes.
These artworks were made by merchants, soldiers, missionaries and other people who traveled to India and documented their stays there. These prints, being easily reproduced and widely circulated, spread knowledge as well as misconceptions about India.
Below you can enjoy a sneak peek of the collection’s highlights.
“Divers Pagods and the Penitence of the Faquirs.” Claude du Bosc (1682–ca. 1746) after Bernard Picart (1673—1733). Copperplate engraving on paper. From an English copy of Bernard Picart, The Ceremonies and Religious Customs of the Idolatrous Nations, vol. 4, part 2 (London: printed for Claude du Bosc, 1733). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1340. Image Credit: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/gallery/delbonta-slideshow.asp
Nârâyana ou Vatapatrakai.” Jean Henri Marlet (1771–1847) and Co. after A. Géringer (19th century). Hand-colored lithograph on paper. From or after a French copy of J. J. Chabrelie, A. Géringer, Eugène Burnouf, and Eugène Jacquet, L’Inde Francaise (French India) (Paris: Chabrelie, 1827–35). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E079. Image Credit: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/gallery/delbonta-slideshow.asp
Dancing Serpents.” Hand-colored engraving with etching on paper. From an English copy of John Platts (1775–1837), The Manners and Customs of All Nations (London: Fisher, Son & Co., 1827). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1104. Image Credit: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/gallery/delbonta-slideshow.asp
Four Scenes from India. After Jacob van Meurs (ca. 1619–before 1680). Copperplate engraving with etching on paper. From a French copy of Pieter van der Aa (1659–1733), La Galerie Agréable du Monde (The Pleasurable Gallery of the World),vol. 19: Persia, Mogol, Chine, Tartaria (Leyden: Pieter van der Aa, ca. 1725). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E1431. Image Credit: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/gallery/delbonta-slideshow.asp
Hindoo devottees of the Gosannee & Jetty tribes.” James Shury (act. first half 19th century) after James Forbes (1749–1819). Drawn by James Forbes, 1780, and published by White, Cochrane & Co., June 1812. Engraving with etching on paper. From an English copy of James Forbes, Oriental Memoirs,vol. 2 (London: Richard Bentley, 1834). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E752. Image Credit: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/gallery/delbonta-slideshow.asp
The Fakir Praoun Poury.” Hand-colored etching with aquatint on paper. From an English copy of Frederic Schoberl (1775–1853), The World in Miniature: Hindoostan, vol. 2 (London: published for R. Ackermann, 1822). Robert J. Del Bontà collection, E974. Image Credit: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/gallery/delbonta-slideshow.asp
