Prints

François Balthazar Solvyns was then unknown then in Calcutta. My father, Nirmal Chandra Kumar, the antiquarian was in London to attend an auction. In one of his sojourn in the streets of London he found a women selling old books and prints spread in the footpath. One of the prints caught his attention. It was of a ‘Bhisti’ with his leather water carrier. He immediately recognized it from Calcutta and inquired about the details which the lady could not provide. He paid a few pence for the print and started researching on the artist. This led him to the discovery of Solvyns. Kumar then discovered some more plates in the Catalogue of Bernard Quaritch in late 60’s and added them to his collection. He then started a definitive hunt for Solvyn’s complete works and was able to acquire a set of the Hinddos, printed in Calcutta, sometime later. From here he started promoting Solvyns in a great way. He went out of his way to persuade collectors, friends and aficionados to collect Solvyns.