The ‘Indian Portrait’ exhibition at National Portrait Gallery of London is a visual treat.

It’s a compact and quirky collection of the human form depicted by mostly unknown artists for at least two millennia.

Taking a special note of the exhibit, prestigious UK publication Times writes:

“In India, traditionally artists painted either pantheons of gods or pictures of great rulers in a rigidly stylized manner, far more concerned with royal symbolism than a sense of personality or real life.

The exhibition though, is a very different world to that portrayed in the West over the time span from 1560 to 1860. It looks at how the early mingling of Eastern and Western traditions that took place in the Muslim courts of the Moguls was, in the 17th century, developed and adapted in all sorts of ways by the artists of the Hindu kingdoms the Moguls conquered.”

This show brings together an illustrative and eclectic selection of over 60 pieces that range from large dynastic portraits to intimate manuscript paintings, from iconic works to rare loans, and from elaborate designs to the most intimate sketches.

It offers a summary of portrait painting as it developed in the Mogul courts in the 16th century. It shows how closely observed depictions of character took precedence over symbolic attributes in the 18th century.

The exhibition reveals the influences of Christian images and points out its antecedents in Iranian manuscript traditions. Curiously, Indian artists were often anonymous in this era. One signs himself: “The work of the least slave in the court.” That tells the story…

‘The Indian Portrait’ continues at the National Portrait Gallery, London until June 20.