- Title
- Maharana Fateh Singh of Mewar (r. 1884-1930) and His Entourage
- Date Made
- circa 1900
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 20 1/2 x 15 1/8 in. (52.07 x 38.42 cm); Sheet: 25 3/4 x 20 1/2 in. (65.41 x 52.07 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2003.214.3
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Maharana Fateh Singh (r. 1884-1930) of Mewar is represented riding on an elegantly caparisoned horse accompanied by his entourage of attendants and standard bearers. The royal procession is set in a receding landscape with a light green middle ground that serves as a plain backdrop highlighting the Maharana. Fateh Singh commissioned royal procession scenes and portraits throughout his reign, but he was particularly enamored of large hunting scenes (shikar) depicting himself in detailed continuous narration at his favorite pastime of hunting tigers and leopards.
This portrait of the nimbate Fateh Singh is closely related stylistically to a portrait of the Maharana by the artist Liladhar in the collection of the City Palace Museum, Udaipur (J 11/48). It depicts Fateh Singh receiving his son, the future Maharana Bhupal Singh (r. 1930-1955; see M.2004.192). The LACMA and Udaipur portraits exemplify Mewar court painting during a period when traditional Rajput artistic modes were being stylistically influenced and increasingly eclipsed by the introduction of photography and European styles of representation and landscape. The identifying text in Hindi on the painting’s verso has yet to be translated and was crossed out at an unknown later date.
