1645
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of the Aged Akbar is a 1645 unspecified by Govardhan, a Baroque work, depicting Mughal Court, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows an old man with a long white beard wearing a white turban and a red robe. His face has deep wrinkles but looks calm and strong. The artist used soft shading to make his features stand out. It’s a portrait of Akbar, the third Mughal emperor, painted after he died. His grandson Shah Jahan ordered it to honor his family’s past. The artist made Akbar look grander than he ever did in real life. See this painting in person at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
The soulful modeling of Akbar’s aged but dignified face argues strongly in favor of the attribution of this work to the imperial court artist Govardhan. This posthumous portrait of the celebrated third Mughal emperor would have been made at the end of his career for Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan, who reigned from 1626 to 1648. Shah Jahan glorifies his own august lineage by lionizing Akbar and having him portrayed in a formal, symbolic way that Akbar himself never would have commissioned. Christian angels in European style praise him from the heavens, while mythical birds of paradise swoop at…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Govardhan (fl. 1595–1640) was a Mughal era Indian painter of the Mughal school of painting. His father Bhavani Das, had been a minor painter in the imperial workshop. Like many other Mughal painters, they were Hindus.…
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