Unknown photographer; unknown artist, Family worshipping Srinathji, Albumen silver print and watercolour, 450x605 mm, Kenneth X Robbins Collection. Courtesy of Kenneth X Robbins

Partha Mitter | Sussex University

 

Summary
During the colonial era, the splendour of the Mughal Empire faded. Yet the aesthetics of the 16th- and 17th-century Mughal court remained deeply embedded within Indian sensibility. Among the lasting effects of Mughal sensibility was on the modern device of photography.  The lecture explored the interplay of Mughal aesthetic, modernity and colonial authority in early Indian photography.