Govardhan ( fl. 1595–1640) was a noted

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n painter of the Mughal school of painting. His father Bhavani Das, had been a minor painter in the imperial workshop. Like many other Mughal painters, they were Hindus. He joined the imperial service during the reign of Akbar and he continued his work till the reign of Shah Jahan. The examples of his work survived till date show that he was fond of rich, sensuous colour and softly modeled forms. Govardhan was one of the illustrators of the '' Baburnama'' currently located in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, London. The ''Jahangir celebrating the festival of Ab-Pashi'' (1615), presently kept in the

Raza Library The Rampur Raza Library (''Rāmpur Razā Kitāb Khāna'') located in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India is a repository of Indo-Islamic cultural heritage and a treasure-house of knowledge established in the last decades of the 1 ...

in Rampur, India is one of his significant creations. The portraits created by him in the Jahangir albums are presently in the collections of various American and European museums. He depicted the different human physiques of the Indians with much accuracy. An excellent portrait of him was prepared by one of his contemporary painter, Daulat.

Gallery

File:Govardhan. Shah Jahan and Dara Shikoh ca. 1638. Victoria and Albert Museum.jpg, Govardhan. Shah Jahan and Dara Shikoh ca. 1638. Victoria and Albert Museum. File:Shah Jahan on The Peacock Throne.jpg, Shah Jahan on The Peacock Throne. File:Govardhan. A Discourse Between Muslim Sages ca. 1630 LACMA.jpg, Govardhan. A Discourse Between Muslim Sages ca. 1630 LACMA. File:Kusa and Lava chant the poem before Rama.jpg, Folio from the Ramayana of Valmiki (The Freer Ramayana), 1597-1605 File:A Musician and Singer Kneel at the Outskirts of a Mughal Camp. A Yogi and a Servant Listen to them, from the Minto Album, c.1630.jpg, 1630. A Musician and Singer Kneel at the Outskirts of a Mughal Camp. A Yogi and a Servant Listen to them, from the Minto Album. The instrument in a Seni Rebab. File:Page from the Late Shah Jahan Album -- Prince and Ascetics c 1630.jpg, Page from the Late Shah Jahan Album -- Prince and Ascetics c 1630. Instruments are the

veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps ...

and (possibly) the daf. File:Govardhan. Akbar With Lion and Calf ca. 1630, Metmuseum.jpg, ''Akbar With Lion and Calf'' – by Govardhan (), at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Gallery

References

Sources

Further reading