NAWAB WAJID ALI SHAH OF AWADH AT KAISARBAGH PALACE, LUCKNOW, MID 19TH CENTURY

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Lord Margadale of Islay

A Flower from Every Meadow, Asia House Gallery, New York; Center of Asian Art and Culture: The Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco; Albright-Knox Gallery of Art, Buffalo, New York, 1973
Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, 2009-2010

Welch 1973, no.70, pp.118-119
Jackson and Jaffer 2009, no.149, p.179
Llewellyn-Jones 2009, pp.42-43
Markel 2011, p.83, fig.9

Extensions mounted at the time of the painting - There are some minor losses and abrasions. The work is in good condition, as viewed.
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This monumental painting presents a fabulous panorama. The Kaisarbagh Palace at Lucknow is seen from a high viewpoint, the varied architectural styles of the palace - an exotic mixture of British neo-classical and Indian vernacular styles - and the slightly random perspective convey very effectively a sense of the vast size of this rambling royal compound. Kaisarbagh was built for Wajid Ali Shah (r.1847-56), the last Nawab of Awadh, whose rule was marked by incompetence and the growing influence of the British.

Here he is pictured as the central figure in a long procession that snakes its way through the palace. Outside are a group of British officers, some standing to attention, others lounging in a tent. The amount of detail incorporated by the artist is astonishing, and however closely one looks, one still finds further curious and intriguing details. The countless human figures, in groups of different sizes, engaged in various acitivities; the numerous pavilions, tents, bridges, pools and colonnades, all surrounded by the vast perimeter structure. Closer observation reveals neo-classical columns decorated with blue floral motifs, neo-classical scultpures surrounding the large water tank, hanging lamps and more human figures in the alcoves of the perimeter, four horses in a stable outside the walls at upper right; the list goes on and on. The painting is so large that the artists has had to extend the paper at either edge to accomodate his composition. It is remarkable scene indeed, and convincingly conveys the wealth, pomp and vanity of the Lucknow court at this period.