Jiwan Ram

Jiwan Ram (fl. 1820 – c. 1850^[1]) was an Indian artist active in the 19th century.^{[note 1]} He was a Delhi-based painter who worked with oil-on-canvas techniques but was a versatile artist who could work in other methods and mediums, such as miniature portraits on board and ivory.^[2] He worked as an independent painter without a patron rather than as an employee of the British East India Company, facing no competition from British artists in upper India in this period.^[3] He copied the techniques and style of European portraits.^[2] He mostly painted portraits of army officers, especially after the Bharatpur war of 1826.^[2]

Jiwan Ram had accompanied Lord William Bentinck to Ropar to meet with Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire in 1831.^[3] On 26 October 1831, he was tasked with making a faithful depiction of Ranjit Singh by Bentinck.^[3] According to Sohan Lal Suri's Umdat-ut-Tawarikh, during a pause in the meeting Jiwan Ram presented paintings of English women to Ranjit Singh and followed that by preparing an outline sketch of Ranjit Singh on paper.^[3] Ranjit Singh paid the painter 100 rupees before dismissing him.^[3] In the 1830s, Jiwan Ram was employed by Begam Samru of Sardhana, with around twenty paintings by him adorning the walls of her palace.^[3][2]

In 1834, Jiwan Ram was tasked with preparing a portrait of the Mughal emperor Akbar II.^[2][4] In early 1838, Jiwan Ram shifted to Meerut.^[3] However, other sources claim he had shifted to Meerut earlier in around 1827.^[2]

Emily Eden, writing on the 13th of February, had the following to say about him during her stay in Meerut with Lord George Auckland and Fanny in 1838:^[3][2]

There is a native here, Juan Kam [Jiwan Ram], who draws beautifully sometimes, and sometimes utterly fails, but his picture of William [Lord William Osborne] is quite perfect. Nobody can suggest an alteration, and as a work of art it is a very pretty possession. It was so admired that Fanny [Emily's sister] got a sketch of G [George, Emily's brother] on cardboard, which is also an excellent likeness.