Sital Das

Sital Das was a painter active in Lucknow, the capital of the Nawabs of Awadh, in the late 18th century. As per the British Library’s catalogue record, he is documented as active around 1780–1782. The record dates his portrait of Amir Khan to Lucknow, c. 1780–90, and identifies the sitter as the governor (subadar) of Allahabad. The attribution rests on the artist’s own Persian inscription on the mount, which names Sital Das as the maker. According to the same record, this is the only picture in that collection by him that was not painted for Richard Johnson, so he worked for a British collector and also took other commissions. His career belongs to a wider shift. As per Malini Roy’s SOAS doctoral study of the Awadh painter Mihr Chand, the Nawabs of Awadh were initiators of the late Mughal painting tradition, and European officers sponsored local artists in Faizabad and later Lucknow. Sital Das fits this setting of provincial courts and European collectors. There are no details available on his biography that appears to exist, and the sources give no birth or death dates, his family background or training. His profile therefore rests on signed or attributed works and catalogue evidence, not on a documented life.

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