India Guide
Karnataka
Jaganmohan Palace: Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery
Address: 300m west of the Maharaja's Palace
Price: Rs10; no cameras
Opening time: Daily 8am–5pm
Built in 1861, the Jaganmohan Palace was used as a royal residence until 1915, when it was turned into a picture gallery and museum by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV. Most of the "contemporary" art on show dates from the 1930s, when a revival of Indian painting was spearheaded by E.B. Havell and the Tagore brothers, Rabindranath and Gaganendranath, in Bengal.
Nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings dominate the first floor; amongst them the work of the pioneering oil painter Raja Ravi Varma who, although not everyone's cup of tea, has been credited for introducing modern techniques to Indian art. Games on the upper floor include circular ganjifa playing cards illustrated with portraits of royalty or deities, and board games delicately inlaid with ivory. There's also a cluster of musical instruments, among them a brass jaltarang set and glass xylophone. Another gallery, centring on a large wooden Ganesh seated on a tortoise, is lined with paintings, including Krishnaraja Wadiyar sporting with the "inmates" of his zenana (women's quarter of the palace) during Holi.