The introduction to this special issue offers a brief summary of recent approaches to the relationship between Britain and India in visual culture. It situates current scholarship in the field in relation to both revised conceptions of ‘the nation’ as an explanatory framework, and a critical engagement with representation and interpretation across cultures and disciplines. The introduction then considers the special issue itself as a cross-section of current work on visual culture and British India, describing and relating the essays that follow to its broader theme.