The Passing of Shah Jahan

The Passing of Shah Jahan is a Miniature painting, painted by the Indian artist Abanindranath Tagore in 1902. The painting depicts a scene in which the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan stares upon the Taj Mahal on his deathbed, with his daughter Jahanara Begum at his feet. Initially involved with the dominant style of European Naturalism, Tagore's mentor Ernest Binfield Havell had introduced him to various types of Indian art. Of these varieties, Tagore was most impressed with old Mughal miniatures, which often featured emotionless, but detailed illustrations of scenes and characters. Incorporating this style with the traditional Indian artistic concept of Bhava''', or emotion, Tagore had painted a scene based upon the growing re-interest in Indian history during the British Raj. The painting had helped to establish Tagore as one of the most well known Indian artists of his time. In addition to creating a whole new movement of Indian style painting, Tagore later on went to paint more artwork depicting nationalist and swadeshi themes during the time of the Indian independence movement. Background Abanindranath Tagore was born on August 7, 1871 to Gunendranath Tagore. A nephew of the Indian poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath was exposed at an early age to the artistic inclinations of the Tagore family. Tagore had been exposed to learning art when he first studied at the Sanskrit College in Kolkata in the 1880s. In his early years, Tagore had painted in the European naturalistic style, evident from his early paintings such as The Armoury. In about 1886 or 1887, Tagore's relative Gyanadanandini Devi had set up a meeting between Tagore and E.B Havell, who was the curator of the Government school of Art in Calcutta. The meeting resulted in a series of exchanges between Havell and Tagore, with Havell gaining a native art collaborator with ideas in the same direction of his own, and Tagore gaining a teacher who would teach him about the 'science' of Indian art history.