Fifty artworks collected over four decades by British academic and Indian art specialist Charles Greig have been gifted to the Tate. The group includes oil paintings, watercolors and miniature works created by artists who lived and worked in India during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The collection brings together Indian artists such as Sita Ram and Ghulam Ali Khan, alongside European and British artists including Johan Zoffany, Rudolf Swoboda, William Hodges, Thomas Daniell and William Daniell. Their works reflect the cultural exchanges and unequal power relations that shaped Britain and India's shared history.
Highlights include Zoffany's 1784 portrait of Prince Jawan Bakht and Swoboda's 1886 painting of a soldier in the Maharaja of Srinagar's regiment. Three watercolors by Sita Ram combine Indian artistic traditions with European visual approaches.
Greig donated the works outright, without tax incentives, describing himself as their temporary steward. The collection is expected to go on view at Tate Britain in 2028, where it will add new perspectives to the museum's presentation of art connected to Britain's imperial past.
By making the works accessible to a wider public, the gift can support fresh research and broader conversations about how art preserves complex histories for future generations.
