Artworks highlighting Scotland’s links to British Empire donated to museums

A number of significant artworks by Scottish artists have been donated to museums in a move that curators say will enable them to further explore the country’s links to the British Empire.

The Hunterian in Glasgow has announced a substantial gift of 18^th and 19^th-century paintings from the John Shaw Collection. The 10 artworks are being donated by the India billionaire Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in memory of her late husband John Shaw.

The donation includes notable paintings by the Scottish painters Allan Ramsay and Henry Raeburn. One work by Raeburn is a portrait of an unknown young Indian woman from around 1815.

“Though her identity remains unknown, it is compelling to consider she may have been of Anglo-Indian heritage and may have been present in Scotland during a time when Raeburn was primarily painting male figures of the Scottish Enlightenment,” said Lola Sanchez-Jauregui Alpanes, the art curator at the Hunterian.

“This work opens up conversations about the complex social, cultural, political, and economic ties between Britain and Asia during that period, as well as new aspects of Raeburn’s female portraiture.”

Earlier this summer, Mazumdar-Shaw donated 16 paintings from Shaw’s collection to Renfrewshire’s civic collection. The collection dates from the late 1700s to the late 1900s, and includes two portraits by Raeburn featuring senior figures from the British armed forces.

OneRen’s curator of art, Victoria Irvine, said the acquisition will help Paisley Museum tell the story of Scottish art when it reopens next year following a multi-million pound redevelopment.

Museum staff will research the works for potential new displays, including Scotland’s involvement in the British Empire.

 “We’re working incredibly hard to create a world-class museum and these works will complement Renfrewshire’s fantastic civic collection,” Irvine said.

“This hugely generous donation will benefit current and future generations. They will add to our shared understanding of Scottish art history and the Raeburns in particular will allow us to tell global stories about Scotland and the UK.”

John Shaw and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

John Shaw was born in Glasgow and attended university in the city. He was the finance and managing director of Coats Viyella and chairman and managing director of its Indian operations in the 1990s.

Coats Viyella emerged from textile giant J&P Coats, which was based in Paisley and was once the third-largest company in the world.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the billionaire founder of biopharmaceutical firm Biocon. The couple married in 1998, and Shaw left Coats Viyella to join Biocon. He died in 2022 aged 73 after a short illness.