Mewari paintings in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Mughal influences and Rajput experimentation at the court of Maharana Amar Singh II (r. 1698-1710)

This paper examines the visual tradition of the court of Udaipur, in Rajasthan (India) during the reign of Maharana Amar Singh II, who ruled over the region of Mewar from 1698 to 1710 AD. This was a period of transition and experimentation from iconographic as well as stylistic perspectives. In tracing the development of Mewari painting during this period, the article analyses the different influences that shaped the emergence of this court tradition while drawing comparisons with Mughal painting. The development of painting in the court of Amar Singh II is examined through historical, stylistic, and thematic lenses. The article first briefly introduces earlier examples of portraiture; it then focuses on some of the paintings in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, identifying the evolution of certain key stylistic and thematic characteristics. While comparisons with the Mughal examples highlight the source of the changes in Mewari painting, the paper also emphasises the syncretistic nature of Mewari painting and the experimentation that led to the emergence of a unique approach to court painting under the reign of Maharana Amar Singh II.