Ram Singh II

Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II (28 September 1833 – 17 September 1880) was the Kachwaha ruler of Jaipur from 1835 until 1880, succeeding after the death of Sawai Jai Singh III. However, Rober Stern argues that much of his pro-reform stances derived from a tendency to acquiesce to British preferences in exchange for titles and honors, thus ensuring his seat of power. In 1853, Ram Singh initially chose as his first wife the daughter of the Maharaja of Rewa, in spite of the custom that required him to marry the daughter of the Maharaja of Jodhpur as first wife.

Many of the photographs taken by him were of elite women who so-far lived an entirely secluded private life in the zenanas of his palace; captured in a western artificial setting, consisting of elegant backdrops, Victorian furniture and Persian carpets. Prior to Ram Singh's photographs, portraits of specific Rajput women were nearly unknown and artists mass-produced idealized representations of women based on a single model, to serve a variety of occasions, for centuries.