India, circa 1876
by Bourne & Shepherd

Believed to be a portrait of Sayajirao – a noble of the state of Baroda (located in NW India) who was hand-picked to become Maharaja and ascended to the throne in 1875 – this image shows the young sovereign around the age of thirteen. Taken by the English partnership of Bourne & Shepherd, famous for the photographs they took while traveling throughout India in the 1860s, this image perfectly captures a young man thrust into a position of power for which he was perhaps not fully prepared.