by Jon Lackman | 10 October 2007 | Asia, Modern
Also reviewed in the April 2007 Art History is Indian Renaissance: British Romantic Art and the Prospect of India by Hermione de Almeida and George H. Gilpin. Prasannajit de Silva writes:
The idea of a second intellectual Renaissance in Europe, taking place in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and driven by the arrival of new knowledge from Asia (principally India), is not an original one … [however, the authors] argue that the impact was greater than has generally been acknowledge, and that a vital catalyst in this was the large quantity of visual representations of India arriving in Britain from the 1770s onwards … The authors argue compellingly, and surely correctly, that the visual played an important role in conveying the idea of India to Europe, at the very least complementing the effect of the newly translated classic texts. They show the influence of Indian motifs (and possibly more) on figures such as Blake and Turner. However, whether such material was instrumental in the development of Romantic sensibilities, or merely in tune with them, remains ultimately — and perhaps inevitably — unproven … In spite of such concerns, Indian Renaissance is an important and substantial intervention in the literature …
