1995.139: Victoria Maharani with the Princess Royal

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1995.139

Title

Victoria Maharani with the Princess Royal

Other Titles

Alternate Title: Victoria with Princess Royal, Victoria Adelaide Marie Louise, nicknamed "Pussy"

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting

Date

c. 1845

Places

Creation Place: South Asia, India, Rajasthan

Culture

Indian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/310650

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Dimensions

26.1 x 20.5 cm (10 1/4 x 8 1/16 in.)
framed: 60.01 x 43.5 x 2.22 cm (23 5/8 x 17 1/8 x 7/8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift in gratitude to John Coolidge, Gift of Leslie Cheek, Jr., Anonymous Fund in memory of Henry Berg, Louise Haskell Daly, Alpheus Hyatt, Richard Norton Memorial Funds and through the generosity of Albert H. Gordon and Emily Rauh Pulitzer; formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, Jr.

Accession Year

1995

Object Number

1995.139

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Commentary

Label text from exhibition “Company to Crown: Perceptions and Reactions in British India,” April 8–October 15, 2011, curated by Maliha Noorani, 2009–11 Norma Jean Calderwood Curatorial Fellow, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Harvard Art Museums:

Victoria Maharani with the Princess Royal
Rajasthan, India, c. 1845
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift in gratitude to John Coolidge, Gift of Leslie Cheek, Jr., Anonymous Fund in memory of Henry Berg, Louise Haskell Daly, Alpheus Hyatt, Richard Norton Memorial Funds and through the generosity of Albert H. Gordon and Emily Rauh Pulitzer; formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., 1995.139

This unique portrait depicts the “Maharani” (Hindi for empress) Queen Victoria (r. 1837–1901), bare-breasted and cuddling Princess Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise under her mantle. It evokes both the Madonna and Child of Western culture and Yashodhra, the adoptive mother of the god Krishna, nursing her child—an image that can be traced back to first-century Hindu paintings.
The flatness of the queen’s forehead and her awkward three-quarter profile suggest that the Indian painter was grappling with Western concepts of volume and perspective. In Indian eyes Victoria’s daughter would be proof of continued lineage. We can only imagine how her dishabille, which symbolized fertility to Indians, might have affected the Victorian sense of propriety.

Publication History

• Stuart Cary Welch, Room for Wonder : Indian Painting During the British Period, 1760-1880, exh. cat., American Federation of Arts (New York, NY, 1978), Page 140-141/Figure 62
• Elizabeth Finch, ed., Rajasthani Miniatures: The Welch Collection from the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, exh. cat., The Drawing Center (New York, NY, 1997), page 38
• Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 151
• Manu S. Pillai, False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (New Delhi, 2021), p. 46, ill.

Exhibition History

• Poignant, Picturesque, and Berserk Northern Indian Paintings and Objects of the Seventeenth through Nineteenth Centuries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/08/1992 - 10/04/1992
• Rajasthani Miniatures: The Welch Collection at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, The Drawing Center, New York, 04/16/1997 - 06/07/1997
• Re-View: S231 (Islamic rotation: 7) Company to Crown, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/08/2011 - 10/15/2011

Subjects and Contexts

• Google Art Project
• Collection Highlights

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