Tate Receives 50 Works Depicting British India From Collector Charles Greig
British academic Charles Greig has gifted 50 oil paintings, watercolours and miniatures by artists who lived and worked in India to the Tate. The outright donation, made without tax incentives, is expected to go on view at Tate Britain in 2028.
The Tate has added 50 works by artists who lived and worked in India during the 18th and 19th centuries to its holdings, gifted from the collection of Charles Greig, a British academic and specialist in Indian art. The group spans oil paintings, watercolours and miniatures.
The museum described the transfer as an "entirely philanthropic act," noting that Greig donated the works outright and did not draw on tax incentives. Greig assembled the collection over four decades.
A Shared Visual Record
Among the artists represented are Sita Ram and Ghulam Ali Khan, who the source says capitalised on a new market for their work among British East India Company officials. The gift also includes European artists such as Johan Zoffany and Rudolf Swoboda, alongside British landscapists William Hodges, Thomas Daniell and William Daniell.
The works are framed as a record of India and Britain's shared history and the complex power dynamics between the two nations. Greig described the central focus of his collecting as an exploration of the "deep and intricate relationship between Britain and the Indian subcontinent through the entwined complexities of the artistic encounter." He noted that most of the works were made before photography, providing a visual record from about 1770 onward.
Greig built the collection over four decades and transferred it to the Tate outright, without recourse to tax incentives.
Standout Works
Two pieces are singled out for their significance to UK public collections. Zoffany's Portrait of Prince Jawan Bakht (also known as Jahandar Shah) of 1784 is one of only three portraits of individual Indian sitters by the artist held in UK public collections. Swoboda's Sepoy in HH Maharaja Srinagar's Indian Regiment, 23 Years Old of 1886, painted for Queen Victoria, is the first work by that artist to enter a British museum collection. The three watercolours by Sita Ram are described as drawing on both Indian art traditions and European visual languages.
Stewardship, Not Ownership
Greig characterised his role in assembling the collection in terms of stewardship rather than possession. "At no stage did I ever see myself as other than a temporary steward," he said, adding that a collection built on a life of study deserves to be universally accessible.
Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain, said the museum is "always looking to tell new and different stories about Britain's role in international art history." He said the gift will significantly strengthen Tate's holdings of art produced in the British Empire and broaden the range of people and histories represented in the national collection.
The collection is expected to be exhibited at Tate Britain in 2028.
