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{{Short description|Mughal Indian artist (active 1580–1600)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2019}}
[[File:A Court Scene, Folio from a Manuscript of Sadi's Gulistan (Rose Garden) LACMA M.79.9.12.jpg|thumb|A Court Scene from Sadi's ''Gulistan'' (Rose Garden), 1596]]
'''Basāwan''', or '''Basāvan''' (flourished 1580–1600), was an Indian miniature painter in the [[Mughal painting|Mughal style]]. He was known by his contemporaries as a skilled colorist and keen observer of human nature, and for his use of portraiture in the illustrations of ''[[Akbarnama]]'', [[Mughal Emperor]], [[Akbar]]'s official Biography, which is seen as an innovation in [[Indian art]].<ref name=art>[http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_India/pages/India_12.shtml Illustration from the Akbarnama: History of Akbar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919035749/http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_India/pages/India_12.shtml |date=2009-09-19 }} [[Art Institute of Chicago]]</ref>

==Biography==
Little is known of the life of Basawan. He was an [[ahir]] from Uttar Pradesh who became a court painter for [[Akbar]], where he came under the influence of [[Abd al-Samad]]. Only four artists have been commented on in the Ain-i-Akbari. It includes Sayyid Ali, Abd al-Samad, Daswanth and Basawan. Basawan's son [[Manohar Das]] succeeded him as a court painter. His family still lives in their heritage home in Kala Mahal, [[Agra]]. Currently, the family is holding a manufacturing and export business of handmade carpets (Diamond Carpets).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Seyller |first=John |date=2011 |title=Basawan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23220223 |journal=Artibus Asiae. Supplementum |volume=48 |pages=119–134 |issn=1423-0526}}</ref>

==Work==
[[File:Basawan. Jain-Ascetic-Walking-Along-a-Riverbank-ca.1600..jpg|thumb|A [[Jain]] ascetic walking along a riverbank, c .1600.]]

Over 100 paintings are attributed to Basawan. His earliest mention is found in an illustrated version of Tutinama c. 1556–61. Most of them are illustrations for manuscripts. In many of them, Basawan was the designer, in collaboration with a second artist who supplied the color. Among the works that can definitely be attributed to Basawan are illustrations for the ''Razmnama'', the ''[[Akbar-nama]]'', the ''[[Darab Nama|Darab-nama]]'', the ''Baharistan of Jami'' and the ''Timur-name''.<ref>{{cite book|pages=268–270|title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture| author1=Bloom, Jonathan| author2=Blair, Sheila S.| year=2009| place= New York| publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

Basawan was one of the first Indian artists to be interested in western techniques, inspired by the European paintings brought to Akbar's court by Jesuit missionaries. It can be seen in his use of strong contrasts of light and shade, although Western influence is never predominant in his work. Basawan was also noted for his exploration of space, the delineation of his backgrounds, the strength of his colors, and the strong, moving characterizations of his subjects. [[Abu al-Fadl 'Allami]], historiographer for Akbar, wrote about Basawan: "In designing and portrait painting and colouring and painting illusionistically... he became unrivalled in the world".<ref>"Basavan", Encyclopædia Britannica Online.</ref> Despite these significant contributions to [[Mughal art|Mughal Art]], he is not recognized on a wide scale outside of academia regarding art in the [[Western Hemisphere]].

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*"Basavan", in ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 12 March 2009 from ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/54676/Basavan
*Rizvi, S. A. A., "Basawan", ''[[Academic American Encyclopedia]]'', 1991 edition, volume 3, p. 101.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/114935/rec/401 The Emperors' album: images of Mughal India], an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Basawan

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Basawan}}
[[Category:Indian male painters]]
[[Category:Painters from the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:16th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:Indian portrait painters]]
[[Category:Painters from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:16th-century Mughal Empire people]]
[[Category:Date of death unknown]]
[[Category:Date of birth unknown]]

Basawan - Revision history

Hayat hospital at 11:13, 26 March 2026