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Jiwan Ram

Jiwan Ram (fl. 1820 – c. 1850[1]) was an Indian artist active in the 19th century.[note 1] He was a Delhi-based painter who worked with oil-on-canvas techniques but was a versatile artist who could work in other methods and mediums, such as miniature portraits on board and ivory.[2] He worked as an independent painter without a patron rather than as an employee of the British East India Company, facing no competition from British artists in upper India in this period.[3] He copied the techniques and style of European portraits.[2] He mostly painted portraits of army officers, especially after the Bharatpur war of 1826.[2]

Jiwan Ram had accompanied Lord William Bentinck to Ropar to meet with Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire in 1831.[3] On 26 October 1831, he was tasked with making a faithful depiction of Ranjit Singh by Bentinck.[3] According to Sohan Lal Suri's Umdat-ut-Tawarikh, during a pause in the meeting Jiwan Ram presented paintings of English women to Ranjit Singh and followed that by preparing an outline sketch of Ranjit Singh on paper.[3] Ranjit Singh paid the painter 100 rupees before dismissing him.[3] In the 1830s, Jiwan Ram was employed by Begam Samru of Sardhana, with around twenty paintings by him adorning the walls of her palace.[3][2]

In 1834, Jiwan Ram was tasked with preparing a portrait of the Mughal emperor Akbar II.[2][4] In early 1838, Jiwan Ram shifted to Meerut.[3] However, other sources claim he had shifted to Meerut earlier in around 1827.[2]

Emily Eden, writing on the 13th of February, had the following to say about him during her stay in Meerut with Lord George Auckland and Fanny in 1838:[3][2]

There is a native here, Juan Kam [Jiwan Ram], who draws beautifully sometimes, and sometimes utterly fails, but his picture of William [Lord William Osborne] is quite perfect. Nobody can suggest an alteration, and as a work of art it is a very pretty possession. It was so admired that Fanny [Emily's sister] got a sketch of G [George, Emily's brother] on cardboard, which is also an excellent likeness.

— Emily Eden, Up the Country, page 94[5]
  • Begam Samru
    Begam Samru
  • Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe
    Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe
  • Sir Thomas McMahon
    Sir Thomas McMahon
  • Lady McMahon
    Lady McMahon
  • Akbar II
    Akbar II
  • Lithograph of Ranjit Singh, after an original work by Jiwan Ram
    Lithograph of Ranjit Singh, after an original work by Jiwan Ram

Notes

  1. ^ His name is alternatively transliterated/spelt as 'Jewan Ram' or 'Jivan Ram'.

References

  1. ^ "Jivan Ram". Art UK. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Losty, J. P.; Roy, Malini (12 January 2014). "A new portrait miniature by Jivan Ram acquired". British Library. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Herrli, Hans (2004). The Coins of the Sikhs (2nd ed.). Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 3. ISBN 9788121511322.
  4. ^ Sleeman, William (1844). Rambles and Recollections. Vol. II. London. pp. 285–287. Rajah Jewun Ram, an excellent portrait-painter, and a very honest and agreeable person, was lately employed to take the Emperor's portrait.
  5. ^ Eden, Emily (1930). Up the Country. Oxford University Press. p. 94.
Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiwan_Ram