Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur

Tara, Maharana Swarup Singh and courtiers playing Holi at the City Palace, ca. 1851.

June 11 – Sept 10, 2023
11150 East Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA

In the 18th century, artists at court in the lakeside city of Udaipur, in Rajasthan, changed their beat. They had previously focused on small, poetic manuscripts, but the new century ushered in large-scale paintings in exuberant color palettes, works that depicted the city’s lakes, mountains, and majestic palaces. The notion of bhava—a Sanskrit word that means “worldly existence”—was dominant, and for the first time paintwork was used to convey emotions and sensory experiences. This exhibition, in collaboration with the City Palace Museum in Udaipur, presents 63 works on paper, cotton, and scrolls that explore the social and political context in which the genre emerged. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: The City Palace Museum, Udaipur/Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF), Udaipur