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Foreword
James Ivory
Description: From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from the Stuart...
From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection
THE NAME is Stuart Cary Welch, and it appears most often before or after scholarly articles on Islamic painting and on the handsome covers of luxuriously produced museum catalogues. These are all about the same subject, of which no one knows more, or more minutely, than he: Persian, Mughal, Deccani, and Turkish painting, as well as Rajput, court by court, from the deserts of Rajasthan and...
Author
James Ivory
PublisherHarvard Art Museums
Copyright© 2004 President and Fellows of Harvard College
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00053.004
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-16831
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Foreword
JAMES IVORY
The name is Stuart Cary Welch, and it appears most often before or after scholarly articles on Islamic painting and on the handsome covers of luxuriously produced museum catalogues. These are all about the same subject, of which no one knows more, or more minutely, than he: Persian, Mughal, Deccani, and Turkish painting, as well as Rajput, court by court, from the deserts of Rajasthan and the lush Pahari hills and beyond to the peaks of Tibet. He is to be found most often on a peak himself—first on one, then another: peaks of fearless attribution, attained by way of his imagination combined with his detective skills. He has come to have a mythic invincibility for other collectors, both private and public (with whom he shares his knowledge unstintingly), as well as for scholars in his fields of interest.
His is the great eye, the most discerning eye of all eyes; also his the greatest passion for images like the ones on these pages; and the long, long memory for a picture or an object once seen and retained for decades; and then the ingenuity and unflagging energy in stalking it down. No wonder his name is so often spoken in a tone of awe (and sometimes rage, because he has gotten there before anyone else). And now, for readers of this book, Cary’s generosity can only be a subject of awe as well. Here in this catalogue are seventy-six drawings from his gift of nearly three hundred or so of his “favorite things,” as he calls them, to Harvard. He has remarked somewhat ruefully that making these bequests was like “cutting off my right arm”; but then, as he points out, he has had them to enjoy for a long time. Up to now he has been modest, even secretive, about the treasures he has bestowed on the Harvard University Art Museums. But his generosity as a donor and friend has never been modest and need be a secret no longer. “Fresh from mind, heart, and hand” applies not only to the beautiful and varied drawings to be found in this catalogue—Persian, Turkish, and Indian—but also to Cary’s munificence in sharing his life’s passion and achievements.