- Ustad Mansur
Ustad Mansur was a
seventeenth century Mughal painter and court artist ofJehangir [Verma, S. P. 1999. Mughal Painter of Flora and Fauna Ustad Mansur. Abhinav Publications.] who specialised in depicting plants and animals.Life and works
Ustad Mansur started his career during the last few years of
Akbar 's reign as a minor painter. But during the reign of Jahangir, he created his masterpieces. Jahangir bestowed on him the title of "Nadir-ul-Asar". His two signed works, one of a rareSiberian Crane and the other of aBengal Florican are in the Indian Museum, Kolkata. His other works are in the National Museum, Delhi, the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, Jaipur and the Chhatrapati Sivaji Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai [Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (2007). "The Mughul Empire", Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, ISBN 81-7276-407-1, p. 815] .He was the first artist to paint both the Siberian CraneRangarajan, M. (2001) India's Wildlife History, pp 14.] and the
Dodo . TheDodo was brought to Jehangir's court via Portuguese controlledGoa and a painting of it is found in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and unsigned but attributed to Mansur. [Das, A.K. 1974. "Ustad Mansur", Lalit, 17, 1974. p. 37.] Rangarajan, M. (2001) India's Wildlife History, p. 19.] [ [http://www.incois.gov.in/Tutor/science+society/lectures/illustrations/lecture19/ustadmansur.html Ustad Mansur paintings] ]References
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