Page 208 - Eye of the beholder

huMayun
Nasir-ud-din-baig-Mohammed Khan Humayun (b. 07 Mar 1508 – d. 27 Jan 1556) almost lost the nascent Mughal empire, but not quiet. Rights of primogeniture were not accepted among Islamic rulers. So, when babur died leaving the throne to Humayun (aged 23 years), his other siblings were among his first emenies to covet the throne. It was Sher Shah however who drove Humayun out of india in 1543, and eventually to a long drawn exile to the court of the Safavids in Persia.
Eventually, when humayun would return from his exile back to the throne of Delhi in July 1555, he would bring with him a retinue of Persian court miniaturists and painters who would herald the new style of Indo Persian painting that would eventually for the basis of the evolution of other local idioms including Pahari paintings. Humayun had noneof the sanguinous traits that his father exhibited.Nor did he get enough time to consolidate the empire upon his re-accession tio the throne of Delhi. Due to his death in 1556, images of Humayun are almost exclusively posthumous in nature, having been drawn in Akbars time , and copied subsequently.
Our picture of Humayun is most probably a 1800s copy of an earlier 16th century portrait. I have not been able to locate an image of the original portrait, and have assumed it to have been lost.
This version of the painting was acquired from an auction in the UK in 2009, and came from the collection of a German Indologist and professor. An inscription at the back of the frame identifies the subject of the portrait as Humayun. Stylistic traits (e.g. the elevated skyline, the attire etc), the presence of the halo prove that the original version was commissioned in the 1500’s.
Portraits of Humayun are rare. This miniature is one of my most favourite in the collection because it is an exquisite piece of work depicting an important chapter in Indian history. For another example (albeit of an inferior quality), see the portrait of Humayun in the collection of Peter Blohm.
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