Gallery Silver Scpaes
Victorian Harmony
Victorian Harmony
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Artist: M Shakeel
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 36 × 60 inches (91.44 × 152.4 cm)
Year: 2023
M. Shakeel’s Victorian Harmony is an exquisite oil on canvas that masterfully conjures the sumptuous elegance of a grand European interior, likely inspired by the opulent salons and drawing rooms of the late Victorian or Edwardian eras. Executed with an astute sensitivity to both historical detail and atmospheric nuance, the composition reveals the artist’s deep engagement with spatial orchestration, tonal harmony, and materiality.
The painting is dominated by a rich interplay of color and light, with the deep emerald green of the walls serving as a chromatic anchor. This luxuriant backdrop is framed by ornate gilded moldings and classical architectural detailing, arched doorways, alcoves, and cornices, that imbue the space with a dignified sense of order and grandeur. Carefully placed mirrors fragment and extend the pictorial space, reflecting glimpses of the room and evoking an almost cinematic layering of visual depth.
Shakeel’s treatment of interior furnishings is particularly noteworthy. Antique velvet armchairs in sombre tones, a circular table adorned with a vibrant textile, and a set of crimson-upholstered chairs are rendered with painterly precision, conveying both texture and weight. These elements, while individually distinct, are arranged in a compositional rhythm that feels both intentional and organic, enhancing the painting’s underlying sense of balance and harmony.
The chandelier, a central motif, is a tour-de-force of luminosity. Rendered with meticulous attention to the crystalline complexity of cut glass, it radiates a warm, ambient glow that unifies the space. The golden light from chandeliers, table lamps, and ornamental candlesticks bathes the room in a soft, opalescent aura, invoking both nostalgia and theatricality.
On the walls, framed paintings and decorative panels further anchor the composition in a refined aesthetic milieu. The mirrored alcove in the background, reflecting another dimension of the room, subtly destabilizes the viewer’s perspective, drawing them deeper into the illusionistic interior.
Victorian Harmony is not merely an interior study, it is a meditation on cultivated space, memory, and historical opulence. Through an adept fusion of academic technique and atmospheric depth, M. Shakeel situates his work within a broader tradition of interior portraiture, echoing the legacies of artists such as James Tissot and John Singer Sargent, while infusing the canvas with a distinctly contemporary reverence for the grandeur of the past.
Why Choose Us
Art has always, naturally, reflected the development and exploration of different thoughts and perceptions, and our current postmodern era is no different. It is interesting to see how art has evolved visually, yet the traditional methods of composing art remain a valid means of expression.
All it takes for an artist to rise above normalcy, is inspiration, which fuels his passion to paint beautiful creations throughout his life.
The valuable expression of art is always there with us, but now this expression is yet to take an interesting diversion with our art gallery, Gallery Silver Scapes, located in Hauz Khas Enclave. Art is no longer considered just decorative but has evolved and come forth as a major form of investment yielding high rates of returns for its buyers, making it an expression commonly used.
Mrs Mayor was walked into the art world by the legendary modernist Bimal Das Gupta, one of whose biggest collections remains with Gallery Silver Scapes. In the 1980s, as head and first curator of the Habiart Gallery founded by Mrs Rekha Modi — a childhood friend — Mrs Mayor worked closely with and curated shows for renowned artists such as A Ramachandran, GR Santosh, Rameshwar Broota, Sakti Burman, MK Bardhan, Dhiraj Chaudhury, M Sivanesan, and Arup Das among others.
Besides modern masters, she also worked with young contemporaries such as Sudip Roy, Paresh Maity, Subroto Kundu, Vinod Sharma, and many more. Artworks commissioned by her are now part of prestigious collections, such as those of the India Habitat Centre, Ranbaxy, Pepsi, Hotel Lalit, Bank of America, and many more private and public collections.