





India through the eyes of Emily Eden,
Travelling across northern India in the 1830s, Emily Eden (1797-1869) made a number of portraits of eminent people, and also of their attendants. Her work gives a unique insight into Punjab, especially at the close of the golden era of Maharaja Ranjit
Singh's reign and at the start of Queen Victoria's.
Members of the Eden family played prominent roles in British society and politics for nearly 200 years. Anthony Eden was the Conservative Prime Minister in the 1950s. But it began with his ancestor William Eden, a Whig aristocrat and MP in the 1770s.
Among William's many children, George Eden (Lord Auck-land) was Governor-General in India from 1836-42. One of the sharpest minds in the family was his younger sister Emily, an artist, poet and novelist. Being unmarried, she elected to accompany her bachelor brother to India, to act as his hostess.
So, too, did their youngest sibling Frances (known as Fanny).
Both Emily and Fanny accompanied George on his travels, including on his expedition from Calcutta to Lahore, to visit the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1838
Along the way, Emily drew portraits of people she met. Her subjects included Afghan and Sikh nobles; Akalis and hill people; fakirs, domestic servants and hunting attendants - anyone who caught her eye, whether young or old.
On the Edens' return to England, over two dozen of her sketches were engraved as lithographs, published as 'Por-traits of the Princes and People of India' in 1844.