The land of five waters gave the world its first cities, its saints and its songs. Broken by every empire that crossed it, it is still ours to remember, and to make whole again.

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PUNJAB WIKIਪੰਜਾਬپنجابMuseum
Punjab WikiMuseumPainting
The Akbarnama painted at Lahore
Daderot · CC0 · Wikimedia
Painting

The Akbarnama painted at Lahore

The illustrated history of Akbar's reign, painted in the imperial workshop while the court was at Lahore, the Mughal capital from 1585 to 1598.

The London copy has 116 paintings by artists such as Basawan, Miskin and La'l, showing battles, sieges, hunts and the building of forts. In Akbar's Lahore years the city was the centre of Mughal painting, translation and building.

Gallery

8 works
en:Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak presenting Akbarnama to the Grand Mogul Akbar. Mughal miniature.
en:Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak presenting Akbarnama to the Grand Mogul Akbar. Mughal miniature.Govardhan · Public domain
Illustrated album leaf; Codices
Illustrated album leaf; CodicesManohar Das · CC0
Illustrated album leaf; Codices
Illustrated album leaf; CodicesManohar Das · CC0
'Arrival of Humayun in the City of Lahore', illustrated folio from the "third" Akbarnama manuscript, ca.1595–1
'Arrival of Humayun in the City of Lahore', illustrated folio from the "third" Akbarnama manuscript, ca.1595–1By Makra with portraits by Mukund · Public domain
Akbar orders punishment of Adham Khan, Akbarnama (cropped)
Akbar orders punishment of Adham Khan, Akbarnama (cropped)Miskin, Shankar. · Public domain
Akbarnama - Khan Kilan at Sirohi
Akbarnama - Khan Kilan at SirohiMiskina and Kesav Khord · Public domain
Basawan - The Young Emperor Akbar Arrests the Insolent Shah Abu’l-Maali, page from a manuscript of the Akbarna
Basawan - The Young Emperor Akbar Arrests the Insolent Shah Abu’l-Maali, page from a manuscript of the AkbarnaBasawan · Public domain
Folio from an illustrated manuscript; Codices
Folio from an illustrated manuscript; CodicesCC0

Pictures from Wikimedia Commons; select one to see it full size with its credit.

More painting

The Court of Lahore
The Court of Lahorec. 1850 – 1855

August Schoefft's huge painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's court, with dozens of identifiable nobles, generals and European officers, painted from sketches made in Lahore in 1841.

Pahari painting at the Sikh courts
Pahari painting at the Sikh courtsc. 1800 – 1850

When Ranjit Singh took Kangra in 1809, painters from the hill courts of Guler and Kangra came to work for Sikh patrons, painting portraits of the Gurus and the Lahore nobility.

Portraits of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Portraits of Maharaja Ranjit Singhc. 1820 – 1840

The Maharaja was painted on horseback, at the Golden Temple, and in miniatures sold to travellers; Emily Eden sketched him at his meeting with the Governor-General in 1838.

Winterhalter's Maharaja Duleep Singh
Winterhalter's Maharaja Duleep Singh1854

Queen Victoria commissioned Franz Xaver Winterhalter to paint the deposed fifteen-year-old Maharaja in jewelled Sikh dress, with a miniature of the Queen pinned to his chest.

The frescoes of the Golden Temple
The frescoes of the Golden Temple19th century

The inner walls of the Harmandir Sahib are covered in painted flowers, vines and animals, with gilded gesso and mirror work, the work of Sikh artist families such as Bhai Kehar Singh and Bhai Gian Singh Naqqash.

Central Sikh Museum
Central Sikh MuseumFounded 1958

The museum inside the Golden Temple complex, with paintings of the Gurus and martyrs, portraits of the shaheeds of the 20th century, old weapons, coins and manuscripts.

The paintings of Nainsukh of Guler
The paintings of Nainsukh of Gulerc. 1740 – 1778

Intimate pictures of the life of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota by the greatest of the Pahari painters.

The Kangra Gita Govinda
The Kangra Gita Govindac. 1775 – 1780

A series of paintings of Jayadeva's love poem of Radha and Krishna, made by the painters of the family of Nainsukh and Manaku in the years when Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra was their great patron.

Basohli painting
Basohli paintingc. 1660 – 1730

Bold, hot-coloured paintings from the small hill state of Basohli, with flat red and yellow grounds, wide-eyed figures and the shining green of beetle wings set into the jewellery.

Pictures of Punjabi trades and people
Pictures of Punjabi trades and peoplec. 1850 – 1880

After annexation, painters of Lahore and Amritsar such as Kehar Singh and Kapur Singh painted the people of the bazaar for British buyers: the potter, the dyer, the water-carrier, the Nihang and the fakir.

Emily Eden's Princes and People of India
Emily Eden's Princes and People of India1838 – 1844

Drawings made by the Governor-General's sister when she visited Ranjit Singh's court in 1838, published as lithographs: the Maharaja, his courtiers, his horses and his Akali guards.

The paintings of Ustad Allah Bux20th century

A Lahore painter of village life, Punjabi legends and Hindu myth, who began painting signs and theatre scenery and became one of the best-loved artists of Pakistan.

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