Raja Nau Nihal Singh and Raja Dhian Singh
1838
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1838
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Raja Nau Nihal Singh and Raja Dhian Singh is a 1838 paint by Unknown, a Patna School of Painting work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
The painting shows two men sitting together. One is on a chair, the other at his feet. To understand this painting, note that the man on the chair, Nau Nihal Singh, was a grandson of a powerful leader. The man at his feet, Dhian Singh, was a prime minister and a Hindu, which is interesting because it shows the diversity of the Sikh court. This painting can be compared by looking at the technique: chiaroscuro.
Nau Nihal Singh, grandson of Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh, is depicted seated on a Western-style chair, while Dhian Singh, the maharaja’s Hindu prime minister, sits at his feet. The painting was produced in 1838, the same year Dhian Singh’s family was implicated in the poisoning of Nau Nihal Singh’s father, Kharak Singh, and later in the death of Nau Nihal Singh himself. Formerly part of Lord Auckland’s collection, the work was brought to England in 1842 and donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1953 by his great-nephew, O.E. Dickinson. Executed in opaque watercolour and gold on paper,…
Read the full account in the museum source.
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