To think that this big city, as large as Greater London, was a few short months ago nothing but rice-fields! Now it was illuminated by electric light; there were tramcars; it was an enormous town, and one that looked as though it had always been there. — p. 25
Strangers passing through India visit the different show-places; they “ do ” the temples and the ruins; and sometimes, through special letters of introduction, they call on the various Rajas. But they never see the marvellous stores of gold and jewels hidden away in the inner apartments of the Palaces, or, if they do, it is among more or less tawdry surroundings. To the Durbar every Raja brought his best and costliest; each vied with his neighbour in pride of possession; and we saw all these treasures massed together in one glittering heap against a dignified and suitable background. — “Central India Camp, p. 173”
The review of the Princes' retainers was unique. No one in that arena had ever seen, or ever would see again, anything to approach it. For days we had been satiated with marvellous spectacles and colour-schemes that left us breathless; but this was something different, something more wonderful than all. One felt that one was living in another world, the picturesque old world of a hundred years ago. Even Anglo-Indians more or less accustomed to such scenes could not but admit that here were types and costumes that they had never seen or dreamt of. It was not merely a Barnum's show to amuse the jaded Westerner: there was nothing grotesque or ludicrous in this array of native retainers. It was a historic pageant. Here were real men dressed in real costumes that they had lived in and knew how to wear. They carried with them their own atmosphere round the arena. Sometimes the different States followed so closely on one another's heels that their atmospheres overlapped; but they never intermingled each one was isolated, separate, distinct. — “The Procesion of Retainers,” pp. 76-77
Subjects, styles, and formats
- Street Scenes and People found there
- Various Nationalities, Tribes, & Ethnicities in British India and other Countries
- Works in Menpes’s darker or penumbral style
- Half-portraits of Individuals
- Full-length Portraits, Standing or Sitting
- Paintings with women in them
- Camels and Camel Riders
- Horses and Horsemen
- Elephants
The Artist’s Commentary
- Reflections on the Political Importance of the 1903 Durbar
- Lord Curzon’s Attempts to Change English Racist Attitudes
- Shame at English behavior at the Durbar
- “This was a scene for Turner”
- The state of Indian Art at the death of Victoria
The Paintings
- Lord Curzon in His Study at Delhi
- Late Afternoon
- A Tailor
- A Blaze of Sun
- A Retainer fron Rajgarh
- Away from the Show
- A Retainer of the Maharaja of Cutch
- A Street Scene
- A Distinguished Native Regiment
- A Retainer of Dhar
- A Scene outside the Railway Station during the Delhi Durbar
- On Durbar Day: Veterans Sitting in the Sun
- A Horse from Jodpur
- State Entry as seen from the Jumma Masjid
- On the steps of the Jumma Masjid
- A Native Bullock-Cart from Bikanir
- A Retainer from Jind
- Akalis Fanatical Devotee
- A Famous Led Horse in the Retinue of the Rao of Cutch
- Shan Chief at the Durbar
- An Akalis Fanatical Devotee
- Lord and Lady Curzon Entering Delhi
- An Akalis Fanatical Devotee [on horseback]
- A Royal Retainer of Rajgarh
- A Jaipur Horseman
- A Pathan Horseman
- A Rajput of Rajgarh
- Veterans of the Mutiny on the Great Day
- A Mounted Mace-Bearer
- A Beggar
- A Retainer from Cutch
- A Swivel-Gun Bearer from Rajputana
- Lord Curzon and the Duchess of Connaught on Their Way to the Retainers’ Show
- A Typical Group in the Retainers’s Procession
- The Shan Chiefs’s Retainers at the Native Review
- A Standard Bearer: This is the State Standard of Jaipour
- Emblem-Bearers of Cutch
- The Gold and Silver Cannons of Baroda
- Native bards from the Cutch State
- Bombay Retainers
- A Famous Dancing Horse — Bombay Chiefs’ Camp
- Quilted Soldiers of Kishengarh
- Some Native Vehicles: These Are Marriage Carts Drawn by Bullocks
- A Retainer of the Shan Chiefs
- In the Retainers’s Procession
- A State Entry: A Distinguished Maharaja
- On the Alipur Road
- Viceroy Reviewing the Troops
- Native Horsemen in the Review of Native Retainers
- Armed Camel Riders from Bikanir
- His Highness the Maharaja of Patiala
- Armoured Horses
- One of the Most Picturesque Groups in the Retainers’s Procession
- An Elephant and Retainers from Bikanir
- A Retainer from Central India
- A Retainer from Alwar
- Shan Retainers Carrying a Brass Gong
- Shan chiefs watching the Durbar
- A Retainer of Rajgarh (II)
- A Camel Rider from Kota
- Jaipur Elephants
- A Performing Horse from the Alwar State
- An Elephant from the Sandy Wastes of Rajpuntana
- A Sikh Spear-Bearer
- A Kashmiri Soldier
- A Soldier of His Highness Dogra Sowar
- Bodyguard of His Highness Dogra Sowar Kashmir
- A Kashmiri Pundat
- A Hindoo Hill Shepherd of Kashmir
- A Sikh Warrior
- From the Hills, Baluchistan
- A Typical Baluch
- Two Baluch Chiefs
- The Maharaja of Nabha
- Spear-Bearers from Cutch
- An Elephant from Jaipur
- Watching the Pageant
- Chiefs of the Shan State
- A Soldier of the Maharaja of Sikkim
- A Hawksman from Rajgarh
- A Standard-Bearer of Cutch
- A Formidable Warrior of Rewa
- Of the Imperial Cadet Corps
- Horseman at the Bombay Camp
- Bombay Chiefs’s Camp
- Armoured Horsemen of the Kishengarh
- Lady Curzon
- A Rajput of Rajgarh
- An Armed Retainer of the Bombay Chiefs
- Camels from Mysore
- Lord Kitchener
- From Rajgarh
- Spear-Bearer from Jind
- Baluch Chiefs on Durbar Day
- An Elephant of Central India
- A Slipper-Maker
- A State Elephant in all its trappings
Bibliography
Menpes, Mortimer. The Durbar. Text by Dorothy Menpes. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1903. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California at Los Angeles Library. Web. 27 May 2017.
Finnemore, John. Peeps at Many Lands: India. Illustrated by Mortimer Menpes. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1910. Internet Archive. Web. 30 March 2014. [Suggested by — Jacqueline Banerjee as another resource.]
Last modified 5 June 2017