India's famed miniature paintings on smartphones

Miniature paintings dating back to the 9th Century are now accessible at just a tap on your smartphone.

The National Museum has joined hands with Google to make available nearly 1200 miniature paintings in its collection for the virtual gallery.

Be it the wooden covers of different Buddhist texts dating back to the 9th century or the marriage ceremony of Rama and Sita dating from the 18th century, the miniature paintings have been digitised using high definition robotic cameras.

The robotic cameras with a resolution of billions of pixels enable the viewers to appreciate the miniature paintings in greater detail by zooming on to a specific part.

The paintings can be viewed using the Google Arts and Culture app where users can experience a walk around through the Augmented Reality-powered art gallery, Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said.

“This is quite unique … very easily with your phone, you will be able to project in your room a building that we have actually designed from a scratch … that will allow you to walk around miniatures and their large scale reproductions,” Amit Sood, Director, Google Arts and Culture, said.

The artworks showcased are presented along with five universal themes of the human relationship with nature, love, celebration, faith and power and depicting scenes that include legendary marriage processions, the joy of being among nature, or epic battles.

More than 75 ‘in-painting tours’ also allow viewers to appreciate details like wisps of smoke from firecrackers, or the finesse and variety of every person’s attire in this royal procession – flourishes that could be missed with the naked eye.

Another feature in the app also allows viewers to paint their own miniatures using an interactive colouring book.

“We will give you the lines and you can fill in the colours and make your very own miniature paintings,” said Tuhina Joshi, Policy Analyst, Google India.