Painting
Pahari painters from the hills, Lahore court artists and European visitors painted the Punjab and its people; illustrated janamsakhis told Guru Nanak's life in pictures.
Gurus and Mughals
1469 – 1708
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.

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.
Misls and Afghans
1708 – 1799
Intimate pictures of the life of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota by the greatest of the Pahari painters.

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.
The Kingdom of Lahore
1799 – 1849
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.

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.

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.
Colonial Punjab
1849 – 1947
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.

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.

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.

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.
Two Punjabs
1947 – todayA 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.

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.
In the world's museums
1364 objects
Battle between Sikhs and EnglishWellcome Collection ↗
Battle in KabulWellcome Collection ↗
Two rows of soldiers, English and SikhAmritsarWellcome Collection ↗
A Sikh soldier with his wife offering him betel leavesWellcome Collection ↗
A Sikh coupleca. 1805 · Tanjore© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
A Sikh Warrior and his wifeca. 1822 · Tanjore© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Punjab Plainca. 1835 - ca. 1845 · Punjab Plain© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Punjab Hillsca. 1790 · Punjab Hills© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Lahoreca. 1835 - ca. 1845 · Lahore© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Lahoreca. 1835 - ca. 1845 · Lahore© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Punjab Plainca. 1840 · Punjab Plain© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Lahoreca. 1835 - ca. 1845 · Lahore© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Punjab Plainsca. 1840 - ca. 1845 · Punjab Plains© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Punjab Plainsca. 1840 - ca. 1845 · Punjab Plains© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
One of five drawings of Sikh heroesca. 1870 - ca. 1875 · Punjab (India)© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Punjab Plainsca. 1840 · Punjab Plains© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Raja Dhian Singhca. 1835 - ca. 1840 · Punjab Plain© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Gulerca. 1790 · Guler© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Ranjit Singhca. 1838 - ca. 1840 · Punjab Plains© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
One of seven drawings of people and occupations and a lion.ca. 1870 - ca. 1875 · Punjab (India)© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Punjab Plainca. 1840 · Punjab Plain© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Lahoreca. 1850 - ca. 1870 · Lahore© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
Painting, Lahoreca. 1850 - ca. 1870 · Lahore© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗
One of five drawings of Sikh heroesca. 1870 - ca. 1875 · Punjab (India)© Victoria and Albert Museum, London ↗More in Pahari painting · Lahore, Multan and the Punjab · The Sikh courts