Gulab Singh (1792-1857) was a member of the Hindu Dogra family who served under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the first Sikh ruler of the Panjab, the region now divided between India and Pakistan. He was a successful ruler and fine soldier, and his talents led him to being created Raja of Jammu in 1822. Following Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the unity of the kingdom rapidly disintegrated, and Gulab Singh began to misappropriate the revenues of the territories assigned to his care. He finally passed on military intelligence to the British before the first Anglo-Sikh war in 1845-46, and as a reward was given part of the Sikh territory ceded to the British under the terms of the Treaty of Lahore of 1846.
The unknown artist of this famous portrait has captured the undoubted wiliness of his subject. The painting was in the collection of Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945), artist and Rector of the Royal College of Art, and bought by the museum from his widow, Lady Rothenstein, in 1951.