The Governor who painted
IN MADRAS recently, and now shooting in Tranquebar, or
Tarangambadi if you will, is a Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation
team recording what remains of a forgotten part of Tamizhagam
history as a backdrop to a story that is probably known to no more
than a score of people in India. It is the story of Peter Anker,
the 27th Governor (1786-1807) of the Danish East India Company
settlements in India. And in his being Norwegian lies another
forgotten bit of history, the early history of Scandinavia.
When the Vikings who'd constantly warred with each other,
decided it was time for peace, the union of Denmark, Sweden and
Norway was born in the late 14th Century, with Denmark dominant.
The Swedes revolted and became an independent nation in 1523, but
Norway remained a part of Denmark till it declared itself
independent in 1814/15. Which was how Tranquebar, a Danish
settlement on the Coromandel from 1620, came to have Norwegian
governor generals from time to time, Peter Anker shortly to become
the best known of them.
A painter of merit, a prolific recorder of the social and
political scene in his letters, diaries and travelogues, and an
enthusiastic collector of Indian objets d'art, Anker took back
with him a treasure trove. And there in Scandinavia, in Danish and
Norwegian museums, they have remained, little noticed.
The one exception is the exhibition of bronzes at the National
Museum, Copenhagen, the sculptures found when excavation work was
undertaken during Anker's restoration of Dansborg (Tranquebar's
castle and fort).
That Anker's bronzes were sold to Christian VIII of Denmark,
the king who transferred Tranquebar to the British for Rs.
1,25,000, is probably better known than his 131 paintings stored
in Oslo's Ethnographical Museum and so forgotten as to be
described as ``one of the best kept secrets in Norwegian art
history''. The first Norwegian artist to paint India, Anker's
paintings include Dansborg and other buildings of Tranquebar,
impressions of Mahabalipuram dated 1790, ``Ruins of the old castle
of Madura, the age of which it has not been possible to
discover'', ``The Gingee fortress in Karnatik which was the
residence of a powerful Indian Raja, before it was conquered by
the Muslims'' and ``The big gate of the Bagoda on the island of
the Seringam in the Cauvery river, the largest Bagoda in India''.
The TV documentary being shot on Peter Anker, his letters and
his paintings will lead up to a major exhibition of his work at
the museum in Oslo in March, 2002, followed by exhibitions in
Copenhagen and Goteborg (Sweden).
With the Government of Denmark showing some interest in helping
with the restoration of Tranquebar, it might be a good idea for
the Tamil Nadu Government to invite this exhibition here next year
to launch the restoration and get the Norwegian Government
interested in the project as well. Imagine a few of these
paintings and copies of the rest hanging in a restored Dansborg!
