Who assisted Lady Herringham in making copies of Ajanta Paintings?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:

The correct option is Asit Kumar Haldar. In 1909, Lady Christiana Herringham, a British artist and patron of Indian arts, undertook a crucial project to create accurate water-colour copies of the deteriorating fresco murals in the Ajanta Caves. She specifically chose a small, elite team of Indian artists from the Bengal School to assist her. Asit Kumar Haldar, a brilliant student of Abanindranath Tagore, was one of the key and most prominent assistants on this expedition, along with others like Samarendranath Gupta. His participation, and that of his contemporaries, was a significant moment, bridging the classical Indian tradition with the modern Bengal Revivalist movement and profoundly influencing his artistic career.

The incorrect option is 2:
Nandlal Bose was another stalwart of the Bengal School and a highly revered student of Abanindranath Tagore, and he was deeply inspired by the Ajanta murals. While he was very much a part of the artistic circle that celebrated Ajanta and he contributed significantly to the Indian art movement, historical records indicate that Asit Kumar Haldar was officially listed as a primary artistic assistant for Lady Herringham’s seminal 1909–1911 project, making him the more precise answer. Nandlal Bose’s work at the Kala Bhavana in Santiniketan, especially in mural painting, was certainly influenced by Ajanta, but his direct involvement in the *Herringham copies* was not the primary role.

The incorrect option is 3:
Raja Ravi Verma was a pioneering figure in Indian art, but he worked in a style and period distinct from the Ajanta revival. He was celebrated for his European academic-style oil paintings on Puranic and mythological themes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The artists of the Bengal School, including Haldar, often reacted against his Westernized style in their quest for a national art identity rooted in Indian tradition. Consequently, he had no association with Lady Herringham's project, which was fundamentally an exercise in traditional Indian fresco replication.

The incorrect option is 4:
E. V. Havell (Ernest Binfield Havell) was a highly influential British art administrator and art historian. He served as the Principal of the Calcutta School of Art and was the ideological champion who strongly advocated for and promoted the Bengal School of Art, guiding artists like Abanindranath Tagore. While he was the key figure behind the intellectual and institutional movement that *led* to the Ajanta copies, his role was as a mentor and patron, not as an on-site artist making the actual copies alongside Lady Herringham.