"An Indian Encounter; Portraits for Queen Victoria"
The exhibition just opened at the National Gallery (Room 1, till 19
January, free) is interesting, including 43 portrait sketches lent by HM
The Queen, done in India 1886-8 by the Austrian Rudolf Svoboda. The
head-dresses are striking; compare those illustrated in
Lockwood Kipling's "Beast and Man in India" (London, 1892). There is a
brief review in The Times (T" section) of 13 November.
One is of Ram Singh, architect & wood carver, deputy and then successor to
Lockwood at the School of Art in Lahore, who then in 1890-91 with Lockwood
designed the Durbar Room at Osborne. (see "The Pater" by Arthur R. Ankers,
1988, page 128).
An accompanying booklet by Prof. Saloni Mathur (Univ Calif.,Los Angeles)
gives a sympathetic and scholarly background, and refers to RK at pages
20, 23 (quoting letters in Prof. Pinney's collection) & 26.
Bryan Diamond
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