These endless ranges and the mystique of
India have attracted travellers, scholars and artists from different parts of
the world for ages. The Indiantravel of three eminent Russian artists in the
nineteenth century was yet another link in this long chain. Aleksey Saltykov,
Vasily Vereshchagin and Nicholas Roerich, spent several years travelling, experiencing
and painting the multitude that is India. Saltykov visited India in 1840 when theBritish
had not seized all parts of the country and the throne at Delhi was still
occupied by the Mughals. Saltykovwas fascinated by everything he saw- Indian
costumes, ornaments, temples and religious practices. Saltykov was in India for
a few years before the first struggle for independence in 1857, and must have
been witness to the growing anti British sentiments among the Indian people &
it is likely that the motion in his work draws inspiration from this tension.
Another master who came to India was the celebrated Russian painter - Vasily
Vereshchagin. Independent and unorthodox, Vereshchagin shared the democratic
views characteristic of the Russian intellectuals
of his day. Vereshchagin’s Indian series are a very important landmark in the evolution of the great
master, not only because of their artistic merit
but also as an authentic document of life in the late nineteenth century India.
The last of the trio of Russian masters to visit India was Nicholas Roerich - A
greatson of Russia, a citizen of the world and a resident of India. Roerich
tried to capture the eternity of the
Himalayas, painting them at dawn
when the valleys were still in shadows & at sunset when the peaks glowed
like ambers.
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