By Namita Devidayal

A seminal exhibition which, for the first time, identifies the unknown Indian masters who have been likened to Vermeer and Michaelangelo may sadly never make it to India. Currently on at the Rietberg Museum in Zurich, and later travelling to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the exhibit of 240 masterpieces by 40 artists, has been curated by the three biggest names in Indian art history - B N Goswamy (of Chandigarh), Milo Beach ( United States) and Eberhard Fischer ( Switzerland).

The exhibit comprises mostly miniature paintings between 1100 and 1900, many of which were painted with a single-hair brush taken from a squirrel's tail, by artists like Nainsukh, Mansur, Shivlal, and Farrukh Beg.

This is the first time that these masters have been identified, thanks to years of painstaking research which involved deciphering the microscopically small signatures as well as comparing styles and subjects. We learn about the 18th century Pahari painter Nainsukh, who apprenticed in his family workshop, but later developed his own style, distinct from his brother, and of Beg, who painted in Kabul, Lahore and Agra. The paintings have been culled from some of the greatest collections in the world, including the Royal Collection of Windsor Castle, the Golestan Palace in Tehran and the Institute for Oriental Manuscripts in St Petersburg.

The exhibition is accompanied by a beautiful short film in Kangri and Dogri, by Amit Dutta, on Nainsukh, who painted in the princely court of Jasrota. His work reflects both the grandeur of palace life and the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside where he had lived. The film will be screened at some point, along with a truncated version of the exhibition, at the Chhatrapati Shivaji museum in Mumbai.

Museum officials suggest there has never been such a comprehensive overview of the history of Indian painting. The art itself is exquisite, revealing not just a mastery of the craft but also details about ways of life, costume, hunting styles and rituals throughout princely India. The entire collection and a rich text have been compiled in a book co-authored by all three art historians. It is hardly surprising that Rembrandt himself possessed a collection of Indian miniatures.