Ustaad Bashir Ahmed is widely regarded as a living legend of Pakistani art and the most influential miniature painter of his generation. Born in Lahore in 1954, he trained at the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, earning a National Diploma in Art in 1974, and later completed an MFA in painting, printmaking and sculpture from the University of the Punjab, Lahore in 1985. He further specialised in traditional miniature painting under two masters linked to historic court traditions: Sheikh Shuja Ullah, a descendant of Mughal court painters, and Haji Sharif of the Patiala gharana. In the late 1970s, he also received rigorous training in the restoration of Mughal, Persian,...