Three suitors fight amongst themselves for the hand of the devotee’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night
1560
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1560
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see three men wrestling on a palace floor while a woman collapses in grief nearby. Her father and brother watch from a balcony, helpless. This painting comes from a book of parrot tales told at the court of Emperor Akbar. The story is meant to teach a lesson: greed and rivalry can destroy what you love. The bright colors and tiny details show how artists worked for royal patrons. To see more art from this time, look up Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605).
