Mughal
painting is a particular style of South Asian painting, generally confined tominiatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept
in albums, which emerged from Persian
miniature painting, with Indian Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist influences,
and developed largely in the court of the Mughal
Empire (16th - 19th centuries), and later spread to other Indian
courts, both Muslim and Hindu, and later Sikh.
Origin
An art
of painting developed as a blending of Persian and Indian ideas. There was
already a Muslim tradition of miniature painting under the Sultanate of Delhi which the Mughals overthrew. Although
the first surviving manuscripts are from Mandu in the years either side of 1500,
there were very likely earlier ones which are either lost, or perhaps now
attributed to southern Persia, as later manuscripts can be hard to distinguish
from these by style alone, and some remain the subject of debate among
specialists.By the time of the Mughal invasion, the tradition had abandoned the
high viewpoint typical of the Persian style, and adopted a more realistic style
for animals and plants.
No
miniatures survive from the reign of the founder of the dynasty, Babur, nor does he mention
commissioning any in his diaries, the Baburnama. Copies of this were
illustrated by his descendents, Akbar in particular, with many portraits of the
many new animals Babur encountered when he invaded India, which are carefully
described. However some surviving
un-illustrated manuscripts may have been commissioned by him, and he comments
on the style of some famous past Persian masters. Some older illustrated
manuscripts have his seal on them; the Mughals came from a long line stretching
back to Timur and were fully assimilated into Persianate culture, and expected to patronize
literature and the arts.
Mughal
painting immediately took a much greater interest in realistic portraiture than
was typical of Persian miniatures. Animals and plants were also more
realistically shown. Although many classic works of Persian literature continued to be illustrated, as well
as Indian works, the taste of the Mughal emperors for writing memoirs or
diaries, begun by Babur, provided some of the most lavishly decorated texts,
such as the Padshahnama genre of official histories. Subjects
are rich in variety and include portraits, events and scenes from court life,
wild life and hunting scenes, and illustrations of battles. The Persian
tradition of richly decorated borders framing the central image was continued.
Development
Mughal
painting developed and flourished during the reigns of Akbar, Shah Jahan andJahangir.During the reign of
Humayun's son Akbar (r. 1556-1605), the imperial court,
apart from being the centre of administrative authority to manage and rule the
vast Mughal empire, also emerged as a centre of cultural excellence. Akbar
inherited and expanded his father's library and atelier of court painters, and
paid close personal attention to its output. He had studied painting in his
youth under Abd as-Samad, though
it is not clear how far these studies went.
Jahangir
(1605–27) had an artistic inclination and during his reign Mughal painting
developed further. Brushwork became finer and the colors lighter. Jahangir was
also deeply influenced by European painting. During his reign he came into
direct contact with the English Crown and was sent gifts of oil paintings,
which included portraits of the King and Queen. He encouraged his royal atelier
to take up the single point perspective favoured by European artists, unlike
the flattened multi-layered style used in traditional miniatures. 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, which is a biographical account of Jahangir, has several paintings,
including some unusual subjects such as the 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.
Mughal Style Today
Mughal-style
miniature paintings are still being created today by a small number of artists
in Rajasthan concentrated mainly in Jaipur. Although many of these
miniatures are skillful copies of the originals, some artists have produced
modern works using classic methods with, at times, remarkable artistic effect.
The
skills needed to produce these modern versions of Mughal miniatures are still
passed on from generation to generation, although many artisans also employ
dozens of workers, often painting under trying working conditions, to produce
works sold under the signature of their modern masters. Rafi Uddin is the recipient of a large number of
artistic honours from India over the last decades. His younger brother Saif Uddin, who ghost-painted for his
famous brother for years, has since become the most recognized modern Mughal
painter straying from traditional Indian scenes into more contemporary themes.
Other
masters in Rajasthan include Kaluram Panchal, Ram Gopal Vijayvargiya, Ved Pal
Sharma, Kailash Raj, Tilak Gitai, Gopal Kamawat, Mohammed Usman, Raja Babu
Sharma and Mohammed Luqman, Kishan Mali Sharma and the Joshi family.
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