Court Dancers in Lucknow

A watercolour sketch of two young dancers in Lucknow, one standing behind in the shadows, dressed in sumptuous, floor-length saris and adorned with jewellery. Both women wear head ornaments (jhumar).

Egron Sellif Lundgren (1815-1875) was a Swedish artist and writer. Having studied fine art in Stockholm, he moved to Paris in 1839 to complete his training; there he made a habit of copying paintings in the Louvre.1 He arrived in England in the autumn of 1853 where he soon gained the favour of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who commissioned several watercolours from him recording royal marriages, christenings, trips to Balmoral, and even scenes from their favourite plays.2

Lundgren was sent to India by the Manchester art dealer Agnew and Sons on an all expenses paid trip to make drawings of the Indian Mutiny (sometimes known as the Sepoy Mutiny and the First War of Independence) of 1857. Lundgren was initially hesitant, but after Queen Victoria showed interest in the matter and promised her patronage, he agreed. She arranged for him to join the company of Lord Clyde, Commander-in-Chief of India, and on his arrival he was given an officer’s tent and access to three camels.3 

Lundgren painted some 500 watercolours of Indian subjects, some of which were used as studies by Thomas Barker for his Relief of Lucknow (now in the National Portrait Gallery, NPG 5851). On his return to London, Lundgren’s drawings of India were exhibited in London to much critical acclaim.4

An engraving of this drawing is included in Med Egron Lundgren i Indien 1858-1859 [With Egron Lundgren in India 1858-1859] and captioned Bajadärer i Lucknow ['Bayadère dancers in Lucknow'].5 Lundgren was in Lucknow on several occasions during his time in India. His letters state that he was there over Christmas in 1858, when he produced ‘a whole host of rather curious water-colours and drawings’.6 A few months later, he accompanied Lord Clyde to a ‘nautch’ held in Lucknow by Maun Singh. He painted several watercolours of this occasion, including a scene from the festival and three portraits of ‘nautch girls’ now held in the Royal Collection Trust (see RCIN 919185, RCIN 919172, RCIN 919167, and RCIN 919159). It is likely that the present watercolour dates from the same occasion. 
The ‘nautch’ was a popular court dance performed by girls and women in Mughal India and later colonial India, where the ‘nautch girls’ were highly exoticized by the British. The name is a British corruption of the Prakrit word natch meaning ‘dance’.7 ‘Nautch girls’ became a popular theme for orientalist artists like Edwin Lord Weeks (see no. 2005.64.114 in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco) and William Carpenter (see IS.157-1882 in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London).


[1] Lundgren, Egron. Reseskildringar, anteckningar och bref [Travel accounts, notes, and letters], edited by Georg Nordensvan. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers, 1905, p. 94. 
[2] ‘Henry V’s entry into London, from Queen Victoria’s Theatrical Album’, Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 921352), retrieved online via https://www.rct.uk/collection/921352/henry-vs-entry-into-london-from-queen-victorias-theatrical-album on 01.10.2025. 
[3] ‘Lundgren, Egron Sellif’ in P. O. Bäckstrom et al. Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon, vol. 6, Örebro: Bohlins Förlag, 1865–68, pp. 343–357: p. 352.
[4] Ibid, p. 356. 
[5] See Apslund, Karl. Med Egron Lundgren i Indien. Stockholm: Bonnier, 1931, pl. 15. 
[6] ‘[E]n hel mängd rätt kuriösa akvareller och ritningar’. Lundgren, Egron. Reseskildringar, anteckningar och bref [Travel accounts, notes, and letters], edited by Georg Nordensvan. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers, 1905, p. 230. 
[7] ‘A nautch girl at Lucknow’, Royal Collection Trust, retrieved online from https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/4/collection/919159/a-nautch-girl-at-lucknow on 14.10.2025.