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Mughal painting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mughal painting is a particular style of Indian painting, generally confined to illustrations on the book and done in miniatures, and which emerged, developed and took shape during the period of the Mughal Empire 16th -19th centuries).
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When the second Mughal emperor, Humayun (reigned 1530-1540 and 1555-1556) was in Tabriz in the Safavid court of Shah Tahmasp I, he was exposed to Persian painting. When Humayun returned to India, he brought with him two artists, Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad, well accomplished in the Persian syyle of painting. Their works, and during succeeding decades, assimilation of local styles, gave shape to a distinct style, which became known as Mughal painting. The Tutinama (literal meaning “Tales of a Parrot”), now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, is among the earliest examples of Mughal painting. The manuscript was made in the reign of Humayun's son, Akbar (r. 1556-1605).
Mughal painting was rich in variety which included portraits, events and scenes from the court life, wild life and hunting scenes, and illustrations of battle fronts. The Victoria and Albert museum in London have a large and remarkable collection of Mughal paintings.
The Mughal painting developed and flourished during the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
During the reign of Akbar (1556-1605), the imperial court, apart from being the apex nerve centre and administrative authority to manage and rule the vast Mughal empire, also emerged as a centre of cultural excellence. In this background, Mughal painting also thrived and hundreds of painters created innumerable paintings depicting scenes from various Hindu epics including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; themes with animal fables; individual portraits; and paintings on scores of different themes. The Mughal paintings during this period continued to get refined with elements of realism and naturalism coming to the fore.
Jahangir (1605-27) had an artistic inclination and during his reign the Mughal painting further developed. Brushworks became finer and the colors lighter. He particularly encouraged paintings depicting events of his own life, individual portraits, and studies of birds, flowers and animals. The Jahangirnama , written during his lifetime, and which is a biographical account of Jehangir, has several paintings, including some unusual paintings like ones which depicts sexual union of a saint with a tigress, and fights between spiders.
During the reign of Shah Jahan (1628-58), Mughal paintings continued to develop, but they gradually became cold and rigid. Themes including musical parties; lovers, sometimes in intimate positions, on terraces and gardens; and ascetics gathered around a fire, abound in the Mughal paintings of this period.
Aurangzeb (1658-1707) did not actively encourage Mughal paintings, but as this art form had gathered momentum and had a number of patrons, the Mughal paintings continued to survive, but the decline had set into. Some sources however note that a few of the best Mughal paintings were made for Aurangzeb, speculating that the painters may have realized that he was about to close the workshops and thus exceeded themselves in his behalf.[1] A brief revival was noticed during the reign of Muhammad Shah (1719-48), and by the time of Shah Alam II (1759-1806), the art of Mughal painting had lost its glory. By that time, in the royal courts of the Rajput kingdoms of Rajputana, India, another school of Indian painting, namely, Rajput painting was taking shape.
- Painting for the Mughal Emperor (The Art of the Book 1560-1660) by Susan Stronge (ISBN 0-8109-6596-8)
- Fiction in Mughal Miniature Painting by Prof. P. C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet
- Painting the Mughal Experience by Som Prakash Verma, 2005 (ISBN 0-19-566756-5)
