watercolour on paper, heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic, framed and glazed with the original 19th Century gilt slip, signed and dated bottom right C. Grant/Calcutta/1851
58 x 37.5 cm. (image); 71 x 49.5 cm. (including gilt slip); 89 x 67 cm. (framed)

Footnotes

Provenance
James Broun-Ramsey, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, Governor-General of India, Coulstoun House, East Lothian, Scotland.

Literature
G. A. Baird, Private Letters of the Marquess of Dalhousie, Edinburgh 1910, p. 25a.

Diwan Mulraj Chopra (1814-1851) was born into a Hindi Punjabi Khatri family and succeeded his father Sawan Mal as the Diwan of Multan. This title was conferred on Sawan Mal by Maharajah Ranjit Singh after he captured Multan from the Afghans. Mulraj Chopra led the rebellion against the British in the Second Anglo-Sikh war, instigated due to an increase in taxation. The increased taxation caused widespread resentment, especially in Multan, where Mulraj had remained steadfastly loyal to Ranjit Singh and his family. British officials attempted to replace Mulraj with Sardar Khan Singh, an offical from the court of Lahore who was more sympathetic to their interests. Mulraj defied the orders and battle ensued. He surrendered on 22 January 1849 along with 550 of his men. He was placed on trial and eventually sentenced to death, later changed to exile for life, for the murders of Liutenant William Anderson and Patrick Vans Agnew of the Bengal Civil Service. Whilst awaiting trial, Mulraj was placed in John Spencer Login's custody (more famously the guardian of Maharajah Duleep Singh), who is known to have remarked to his wife that Mulraj did not appear to be the bloodthirsty despot described in the papers. He died enroute to Buxar jail after a short illness in August 1851. His body was cremated on the banks of the Ganges by some of his loyal servants.

Colesworthy Grant (1813-1880) first arrived in India in 1832 and became a freelance artist and journalist. His career spanned several years and he was the founder and honorary secretary of the Calcutta branch of the RSPCA. A number of his portraits were acquired by Lord Dalhousie, passing to the heirs of Colstoun. He also painted the portrait of another Sikh revolutionary imprisoned by the British, Bhai Maharaj Singh (see D. Toor, In Pursuit of Empire, London 2019, pp. 240-241). His portrayal of Diwan Mulraj became one of the best known images of the period and a lithograph was produced later in the century.

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- Islamic and Indian Art
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A large and impressive portrait of Diwan Mulraj Chopra, Governor of Multan and leader of the Sikh rebellion against the British in 1849 by Colesworthy Grant (British, 1813-1880), dated 1851

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