Akbar in Old Age Looking pallid and drained, Akbar is shown in old age, probably not long before his death at sixty-four in 1605. Behind him, seemingly worried, his grandson Prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan) turns to his bibulous older brother, Prince Khusrau. The courtier saluting the emperor appears to be Hakim ’Ali Gilani, the physician who attended Akbar in his last illness and who was also Prince Khurram’s chief tutor. An unidentified huntsman tries unsuccessfully to attract the attention of a hound. He holds a superb green matchlock, symbolic perhaps of activities forsaken in old age. Manohar’s group portrait sensitively conveys a mood of sadness and tension, and as such it is a landmark in the development of its genre, which could be considered the outstanding expression of Mughal art. This sensitive, three-quarter view of Akbar may be the very picture that provided the model for countless posthumous likenesses, such as those made for Shah Jahan, who must have remembered his grandfather as we see him here, and who remained at his bedside until the end. To Read More Visit This Book Link https://www.mughallibrary.com/ebooks2020/Imperial-Mughal-Painting Mughal Library