New Delhi, June 13 -- Sometime in the 1840s, an artist in Rajasthan portrayed a mother and her child. It was a motif popular across India-of a woman breastfeeding her infant, as in bronzes and pictures of Yashoda and Krishna. Yet something about this specific painting was unusual. The subjects were rather pale in complexion, with light brown hair. The baby was female, wearing drop earrings and sporting curls. And the costume of the mother definitely didn't resemble any local attire. As such, the image was unquestionably odd: a traditional miniature-style work, but with an unconventional, experimental quality. Luckily for us, the artist left an inscription as to the identity of the dignitaries depicted. And so, we discover, that the lady i...