How Indian artists imagined the birth of Christ

This 17th-century painting combines Islamic motifs with Renaissance-style artwork

From the British Library archives. A painting of a Virgin and Child from 1630 with influences from Islamic art — This 17th-century painting combines Islamic motifs with Renaissance-style artwork

The birth of Jesus Christ – a seminal biblical event – has been the subject of numerous paintings by Western artists, who often drew on prevailing ideas of beauty and creativity in depicting the event on canvas.

These works are among the most widespread representations of Christian art. They shape the world’s view of this biblical event and subliminally discourage people outside the West from influencing it.

But over the centuries, artists in India have tried to express their vision of this event by painting the birth of Jesus and other Christian themes in their own style.

Some have done this consciously, others unconsciously, but the end result is a body of work that breathes new life and meaning into the event of Christ’s birth and into Christianity itself.

Here are some paintings from Indian art history that depict the birth of Jesus from a unique local perspective.

The Mughal Emperor Muhammad Jalaluddin Akbar is credited with introducing northern India to Christianity by inviting Jesuit missionaries to visit his court.

The missionaries brought with them sacred writings and European works of art on Christian themes, which influenced the court painters. Akbar and his successors also commissioned many murals with Christian themes, and some court painters began to infuse these paintings with elements of Islamic art.

Neha Vermani, a South Asian historian, discusses a painting by Mughal court artists of Emperor Jahangir in the nativity scene, which traditionally depicts Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.

“Mughal rulers saw themselves as ‘just’ rulers, able to maintain harmony and balance in their kingdoms; they were ‘universal rulers’. Allowing different religions to coexist was an essential part of their self-image and wanted them to be remembered,” says Ms. Vermani.

The following 18th-century painting features typical stylistic elements of Mughal art, including highly stylized figures, vivid colors, naturalism and ornamentation.

An 18th-century Mughal-style painting depicting the Virgin Mary and Child

The Trustees of the British Museum Mary, wearing a blue cloak and mauve dress, sits on a terrace holding the baby Jesus, surrounded by servants holding various bowls and bowls. A tree and a building with red and green curtains in the background. Ornate colorful floral border. — An 18th-century Mughal-style painting depicting the Virgin Mary and Child

A 1630 painting of the Virgin and Child with influences from Islamic art

From the British Library archives. A painting of Virgin and Child from 1630 — A 1630 painting of the Virgin and Child with influences from Islamic art

Born in 1887 in what is now the Indian state of West Bengal, Jamini Roy is celebrated for creating a unique visual language by combining elements of Bengali folk art and Kalighat paintings – a distinctive art form that originated near a famous temple in the city of Calcutta.

Ashish Anand, CEO and managing director of art firm DAG, says that art critic WG Archer once remarked that Christ represented a Santhal figure to Jamini Roy (the Santhals are an Indian tribal group).

“The simplicity of Christ’s life and sacrifice appealed to Roy and made his paintings on Christian themes at least as important as those on Hindu mythology, all depicted in the vernacular modernist style that he made distinctively his own,” he says.

A 1950s tempera-on-cloth painting of the Madonna and Child by Jamini Roy

Image courtesy of DAG. A painting of Mary with baby Jesus by Jamini Roy — A 1950s tempera-on-cloth painting of the Madonna and Child by Jamini Roy

Madonna with Jesus and the Magi by Jamini Roy

Image courtesy: DAG Madonna with Jesus and the Magi by Jamini Roy — Madonna with Jesus and the Magi by Jamini Roy

Born in the western state of Goa in 1902, Angelo de Fonseca is considered the creator of a unique Christian iconography that combined Eastern and Western influences with his Goan sensibility.

In his paintings, Mary is not depicted as a beautiful maiden in a blue dress, but rather looks very similar to an Indian woman with brown skin, wearing a sari and wearing a mangalsutra (a traditional Indian piece of jewelry worn by married Hindu women).

Biblical scenes take place in local locations and contain motifs and elements that appeal to an Indian audience.

With his art he tried to counter the narrative that the West was the cradle of beauty and artistic creativity.

“Fonseca wanted to locate Christianity – which was largely seen as a Western religious tradition – in the Indian subcontinent. Out of that fear, his watercolors repainted Christianity,” said Rinald D’Souza, director of the Xavier Center of Historical Research. Goa, told the BBC.