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37-ft long Lucknow scroll goes on display in the US

Featuring 33 sheets of paper, the 19th century scroll offers a panoramic view of lucknow from across Gomti river.

3 min readNew DelhiApr 6, 2026 07:06 PM IST

Lucknow from the Gomti, Lucknow, India, 1826, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection (Photo: PR handout)

One of the longest objects in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, the 31 x 1128 cm scroll ‘Lucknow from the Gomti’ is on public display for the first time as part of the exhibition “Painters, Ports, and Profits: Artists and the East India Company, 1750–1850”. Featuring a panoramic view of the city of Lucknow from across Gomti river, the work made between 1821 and 1826 in British and India techniques comprises 33 sheets of paper glued together to form the panel executed in watercolour, gouache and gold. It reportedly took two years of conservation before being exhibited.

Within a border of black and gold, the names of the places depicted are mentioned in Hindustani underneath. It is accompanied by a “description of the panoramic view of Lucknow,” in four pages in pen and black ink. Dated 1826, the manuscript provides English transcriptions of “the names corresponding with the Hindostany ones, written underneath”.

The catalogue note shares a description of the work by research curator Stephen Markel from India’s Fabled City — The Art of Courtly Lucknow. He notes, “Presumably made for the same British visitor whose handwritten notes identifying the buildings accompanied the scroll… The artist employed European-style perspective in his depiction of this [the Shah Najaf Imambara] and several other buildings, many presented obliquely as they must have appeared from the Gomti River. The scroll is, in fact, a fairly accurate topographical representation of Lucknow as viewed from the Gomti and a valuable guide to the buildings that have since disappeared.”

Commenting on the details, Markel adds, “The central portion of the scroll is particularly interesting in depicting the riverine buildings that would eventually become incorporated into the Bara Chattar Manzil Palace complex… The artist of the Yale scroll attempted to depict an accurate view of the city for his European patron. This concern, in addition to the style of the painting, is typical of the many ‘Company-school’ works — so called for their obvious adaptations to European visual tastes — that depict Indian architectural monuments.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication edited by curators Laurel O Peterson and Holly Shaffer, featuring more than 100 objects drawn primarily from the YCBA collection, including architectural drafts, burnished opaque watercolours and hand-coloured aquatints, among others. The brochure notes, “The artists featured here came from many different backgrounds. Some trained in art schools in Britain, others in Indian courts, Chinese workshops, or military institutes. In their artistic exchanges, they combined regional methods with new materials and techniques. They interacted in places where the Company sought and claimed power.”

Vandana Kalra

Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice. With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India. Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale. She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters. Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory. The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions. Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović). Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India: 1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival "At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors. "Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers. "At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025). "Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention. 2. M.F. Husain & Modernism "Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum. "Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025). 3. Art Market & Records "Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million. "All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025). "What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork. 4. Art Education & History "Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025). "A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art. Signature Beats Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More

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