Even if you know nothing else about him, you’ve probably heard the name ‘Rembrandt’ at some point in your life. You might even have seen one of his famous paintings: maybe The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, where a group of men lean over a cadaver as a doctor reveals what a hand looks like without skin, or maybe the dashing company of swordsmen featured in the sprawling canvas of The Night Watch. Rembrandt is considered one of the masters of the Dutch Golden Age of painting, a period which roughly spanned the length of the 1600s. Even in his lifetime, he was renowned as one of the foremost exponents of etching, which involves working fine detail into a metal plate which was then used to make prints through a printing press. Rembrandt was also an avid art collector and art from all over the world found their way into his hands. 

At some point, in the mid-1600s, Rembrandt came across examples of Mughal art and was so inspired by their noble-looking subjects and elaborate costumes, that he began to produce work in that style. Today, we have 23 different pieces by Rembrandt, all in his ‘Mughal style’, all dating from a brief five year period from 1656 to 1661.

But how did Rembrandt even come across Mughal art?

The truth is that Mughal art had probably been coming to Europe for decades by that time. The British had set up a factory in Surat in 1612. The Dutch too set up a trading post soon after, in 1616. At that time, Surat was one of the busiest ports on the Eastern coast of the Mughal Empire, whose capital was in Delhi. The king at that time was Jahangir,  a great patron of the arts. His court was full of painters and poets, vying with each other to produce the finest works. Soon, a steady stream of artwork began to filter into  Europe on trading ships, alongside textiles and spices. 

These imported paintings were not commonly available, of course, and Rembrandt doesn’t seem to have actually owned the pieces that inspired his work. But based on close study,  scholars feel that some of his inspirations may have been displayed in the Schönbrunn Palace in Austria. Others seemed to have come from albums known as muraqqa, which were books of paintings, prints and drawings that had been stitched together.

While he avoided bright colours for simpler line work, it’s clear that Rembrandt took great care in his reproductions. These weren’t practice sketches. They were drawn on rare Japanese paper that the Dutch East India Company brought to Europe. His  attention to detail is obvious, especially with regard to facial expressions and costume. In one portrait, he takes great pains to depict  Shah Jahan with a white beard.  Story goes that after his beloved wife’s death, Shah Jahan’s luxurious black beard beard turned a snowy white.  The folds of turbans, the fall of sashes, the design of jewellery and shoes- every little detail was painted in with care. One curator points out that Rembrandt, unlike some other artists, did not cast these “exotic” people and objects into fantastical settings. Rather, he earnestly copied them, as he would have copied the works of other European masters – as a way of learning.

But, as art historian Yael Rice eloquently explains, Rembrandt shouldn’t be seen as some cross-cultural hero but as one member in a much larger conversation. European prints and paintings had been circulating in India even before Rembrandt was born. Mughal painters copied and learned from them as well.  Some even painted over European prints, using them as outlines in the way a colourist in a comic book today might use the pencil and inks of the illustrator. It’s important to remember that even in the 17th century, the world wasn’t a very big place!

If you  are interested in art history, you may like to read this post on another Indian painter, Raja Ravi Varma: Raja Ravi Varma – the Royal Indian artist   

You may also like our story about an 18th century British artist who travelled across colonial India to produce remarkable sketches, paintings and aquatints: Thomas Daniell – the painter of landscapes

You can hear more about Mughal miniature paintings on the Storytrails audio tour of the Indian Paintings Gallery at the National Museum in Delhi. Download Storytrails Audio Tours app at www.storytrails.app

Image Attribution

1. The Night Watch or The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq by Rembrandt – By Rembrandt – http://hyper-resolution.org/view.html?i=Rijksmuseum/SK-C-5/SK-C-5_VIS_20-um_2019-12-21 downloaded with dezoomify-rs, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90131410

2. Shah Jahan by Rembrandt – By Rembrandt – https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-T-1930-41/catalogue-entry, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92024543

3. Abraham Entertaining the Angels, 1656, by Rembrandt – By Rembrandt – www.rijksmuseum.nl : Home : Info, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14939993

4. The Mughal Emperor Jahangir by Rembrandt – Rijksmuseum, public domain