The emperor Bahadur Shah

Europeanised in its full-face portraiture and modelling, this sadly gazing nobleman is the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II (r.1837-1858). Like his father, seen in the previous painting [LI118.33], he ruled India in name only, and his domains hardly reached beyond the Red Fort. Already an old man when he came to the throne, he had spent much of his life in the pursuit of Urdu poetry. For his nominal leadership of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he was deposed by the British and died in exile.

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