Bishandas, also Bishan Das or Bishn Das, was a 17th-century Mughal painter at the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (1569–1627), specializing in portraits. Though little is known of Bishandas’ life, his name suggests he was a Hindu, like several others in the imperial workshop.
Bishandas had the reputation of being unequalled for his ability to create a realistic likeness of his models.[1] He created realistic court and battle scenes. Jahangir especially sponsored realistic paintings and accurate portraiture.[2] He praised Bishandas as "unrivalled in the art of portraiture".
Jahangir was so keen on obtaining realistic depictions of his contemporaries, possibly as a way to better understand their character and intentions, that in 1613 Bishandas was sent to accompany on a diplomatic mission to Persia led by Khan ‘Alam,[3] to paint the portraits of Shah Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629) and other leading Persian figures such as Abbas's second son Soltan Mohammad Mirza, Saru Taqi or Isa Khan.[4][5] There he was so successful that he remained until 1620, and on his return Jahangir gave him an elephant.[6]
The portraits of the period are known to have been painted from life, because of the direct sketches made of their subjects, and because of the realistic, non-idealized, style their adopted. Bishandas was clearly influenced by the realistic European portraits he had seen in miniatures and engravings.[5] Still, his creations were to some extent hampered by technical conventions, such as the regular need for full-length portraits, which gave less importance to the depiction of the face itself compared to European portraits, or the regular requirement to paint in profile.[5]
Gallery
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Shaikh Phul in His Hermitage, c. 1610
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The Birth of a Prince, c. 1610–15, from a Jahangirnama (Tuzk-e-Jahangiri)
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Portraits of Shah Abbas I by Bishandas (1615-1620).[8]
![Portrait of Raja Suraj Singh of Jodhpur, Jahangir's brother in law.[7]](/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=Recto-_%22Portrait_of_Raja_Suraj_Singh_Rathor%22,_verso-_Page_of_Calligraphy._Folio_from_the_Shah_Jahan_Album_MET_DT200625_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
![Portraits of Shah Abbas I by Bishandas (1615-1620).[8]](/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=Portraits_of_Shah_Abbas_I_by_Bishandas_(1615-1620).jpg){kind=link}
Notes
- ↑ History of Medieval India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. S. Chand Publishing(2007). ISBN 978-81-219-0364-6
- ↑ History of Medieval India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. S. Chand Publishing(2007). ISBN 978-81-219-0364-6
- ↑ Shah Abbas: The King Who Refashioned Iran{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Simon and Schuster(6 August 2015). ISBN 978-1-78074-568-8
- ↑ The Emperor Jahangir: Power and Kingship in Mughal India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Bloomsbury Publishing(16 April 2020). ISBN 978-1-83860-044-0
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Indian Painting, Volume 1{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Los Angeles County Museum of Art(1993). ISBN 978-0-8109-3465-8
- ↑ Crill and Jariwala, 88
- ↑ Metropolitan page
- ↑ Jan Lucasz. van Hasselt: A Dutch Painter in Safavid Isfahan. Iranian Studies({Template:Date).
References
- Crill, Rosemary, and Jariwala, Kapil. The Indian Portrait, 1560–1860, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2010, Template:ISBN