Shah Jahan
c. 1656–61
Medium
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.225,"width":0.171},"secondary support":{"height":0.276,"width":0.224}}
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
1978.38
Tags
About this artwork
Rembrandt’s drawing portrays Shah Jahan, the ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1628-58. It is one of twenty-three drawings that Rembrandt made after Indian miniatures, which he had very likely studied in an album then in Holland. By the 18th century, the album had been dismantled, and the model for this drawing now resides at the Schloss Schönbrunn, Vienna. Rembrandt imposed his characteristic realist tendencies on a more detailed, formal, and stylized model, bringing the shah to life with especia...