Europe’s art under one roof

VADODARA: The painting collection at the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery boast of a wide range of art works from prominent school of arts in Europe. Most of the art works were purchased before World War I.
The collection includes paintings from artists belonging to Byzantine, Italian, Florentine, Netherlands, Dutch, Flemish, German, French and English school of art.
“We have the largest collection of European paintings in Asia. No where in India or Asia will we find such wide range of artists from Europe under one roof,” said Rajendra Dindorkar who works at the museum.
Notable paintings include the series of still paintings by Edwaert Collier of Dutch School, ‘The Race for Wealth’ as series of five paintings by William Frith and a portrait by renowned Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens.
The collection also includes a painting by one of the few travelling artists then, Johan Zoffany, who both lived and worked in India. Zoffany’s painting depicts a scene from Shakespeare’s epic tragedy Macbeth.
“The collection has paintings made on wooden planks, a technique that prevailed much before the introduction of canvas. The picture gallery in way is the first of its kind to introduce Biblical subjects to the masses,” said art historian Ratan Parimoo.
Parimoo added that the collection also has a panoramic painting by Russian artist Ilya Repin, ‘The Zaporozhye Cossacks writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan’.