Nineteenth-Century Court Arts in India by Marika Sardar Institute of Fine Arts, New York University After 1858, there was a growing interest in Indian architecture as the British monarchy tried to present itself as successor to the Mughals. Focus shifted from Calcutta to Bombay, where the Victoria Terminus by Frederick W. Stevens (1878) and Prince of Wales Museum by George Wittet (1914) were built. Though essentially of classical design, these buildings incorporated a number of decorative elements from the Indian vernacular for the first time. The princes who chose to build in such a style often hired British architects. The work of Major Charles Mant at Kolhapur, Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob at Bikaner, and Vincent Esch at Hyderabad is a curious mix of Palladian villa design (popular in England at the time) and Indian architectural ornament. At Lucknow, architecture was much influenced by the work of Claud Martin, the French general who settled in the city and was given charge of several regiments in the nawab's army. His residence, called "Constantia," was finished with a number of odd flourishes (such as statues waving from the roof), and this exuberant style was quoted in elements of "Kaiserbagh," the palace of Nawab Wajid cAli Shah (r. 1847-56) built in 1848-50. New to the arts scene in the nineteenth century was photography, which reached India soon after its invention in Europe. Maharaja Birchandra Manikya (r. 1862-96) of Tripura was among the many princes who took an interest in the medium, starting his career in daguerreotypes; his son Bara Thakur would become a critically acclaimed photographer. Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II of Jaipur (1835-1880) was another skilled practitioner, noted for his portraits of British notables and women from his court (normally only photographed by other women). It is Lala Deen Dayal (1844-1910), however, who is perhaps the era's most famous photographer. He worked for both British and Indian patrons, and among his subjects were Lord and Lady Curzon and the nizam of Hyderabad. Dayal was appointed court photographer to Curzon in 1884, where he took portraits and documented such important events as durbars and the construction of new palaces. In 1896, he moved to Bombay and opened a commercial studio there. http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/hd/icrt/hd_icrt.htm --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India