Fancy Vintage Photos of Young Indian Royals

By Alison Nastasi

May 10, 2012

Pramod Kumar’s new book Posing for Posterity: Royal Indian Portraits explores how the arrival of photography in Indian in 1840 sparked an interesting connection between the country’s traditional miniature artworks and portrait photography. Court painters and patrons were some of the first to latch onto the new medium, favoring Indian rulers and their families as subjects — including the young royals we’ve shared images of past the break, thanks to Retronaut’s recent discovery. The supremely fancy photographs capture the “formality and strictures of court life” imposed upon the mini rulers, emphasizing a youthful ennui. Click through for more vintage gems.

Posing for Posterity: Royal Indian Portraits