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Akbar II in darbar with the British Resident Charles Metcalfe
Attributed to the Mughal court artist, Ghulam Murtaza Khan (active 1809–30), this painting depicts British Resident Charles Metcalfe (1785-1846) in attendance at the court of Akbar II, who ruled Mughal India from 1806-37.
Source
Pieter Cnoll, Batavian Senior Merchant
Painted by Jacob Coeman in 1665, this painting depicts Pieter Cnoll, his Eurasian wife Cornelia van Nijenrode, their two daughters, and two enslaved servants.
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The Palmer Family
Painted by Francesco Renaldi in 1786, The Palmer Family depicts Major William Palmer (seated in the center) surrounded by his two bibis, children, and female servants. Bibis are common-law wives of British men in India. Seated to Palmer's left is Bibi Faiz Bakhsh.
Review
Wetmore Print Collection
While the responsibility of providing historical context for these images remains with the instructor, the images themselves will delight and puzzle students—and, if they are properly prepared, will provide good insight into the historical periods in question as well.
Review
Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts
A rich database site that focuses on iconography (pictorial illustrations of a subject) such as this one offers many teaching and learning possibilities for several humanities disciplines, not just art history.
Review
Biblioteca Ambrosiana
The site is visually attractive and well designed, with straightforward navigation. It provides an introduction to the site and a history of the collection; a database search that scans the collection by artist, subject, and other parameters; and bibliographies for the drawings, for the history of
Review
Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu-Meiji Period
The site will be useful to instructors looking to add visual sources to enliven a discussion of Japanese history at this critical moment in which Japan confronted the threat of Western imperialism and embarked on its own urgent project of modernization.
Review
Japanese Text Initiative
Perhaps the greatest contribution of this site is its search engine, which enables the reader to search multiple texts, in English, for common topics or phrases. This feature makes these literary texts very useful to historians locating references on specific topics.
Review
Abdul-Hamid II Collection Photography Archive
Teachers and students of the history of children and youth will be particularly taken by the vast array of education-themed photographs, which reveal a strong emphasis placed on schooling by the Ottoman Empire at the time.
Review