Mughal Painting

Mughal paintings have recently acquired importance in historical studies because of

certain limitations of using literary sources.

Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty in 1526, was responsible for influencing
artistic development in India. Since his life was spent in a tented field with little time for
leisure, painting did not develop much during his reign though he had artistic
inclinations.

In 1540, Sher Shah seized control of the kingdom. Humayun spent his years in exile in
Persia till 1555, when he reclaimed his patrimony. He extended patronage to Mir Sayyid
Ali and Khwaja Abdus Samad. Humayun died soon after regaining power.

Following Humayun’s initiative, Akbar laid the actual foundations of the Mughal School
of miniature art. Under Akbar, in the initial 15 years, which were spent quelling rival
claimants to power, the artists brought together by Humayun were left to themselves. Mir
Sayyid Ali completed the “Amir Hamzah” started under Humayun. It was mainly
Persian (or a fusion with indigenous art), done on cloth and usually had a suggestion of
an Indian environment.

Akbar created the favourable conditions for the flowering of the ‘arts of peace’ by
making the country a powerful & stable empire and by the promulgation of a new
religious order of the ‘Din-i-Ilahi’.

Fatehpur Sikri with its painted Palace-halls became a center for literature and arts after its
creation in 1569 that was soon followed by an organized school of painting. Two main
branches of art developed: portraiture and book illustration. Persian & Indian styles were
employed separately as two distinct methods. In general, the illustrations in the books
were used to reinforce Akbar’s authority.

Brown calls Jahangir’s reign (1610-25) the “Meridian”, when Mughal paintings reached
maturity. The Persian and the indigenous art finally fused into one. Farrukh Beg was the
leader of the school and the last foreign artists were Muhammad Nadir and Muhammad
Murad from Samarqand. The artists recorded incidents of Jahangir’s daily life. Sharply
defined colour contrasts characterized the compositions. Calligraphic outlines define the
miniatures while a certain level of symmetry was also provided. Landscape effects were
used in the backgrounds with a certain feeling for aerial perspectives. Animals and birds
figure prominently and certain painters developed recognizable areas of expertise. It is
widely accepted that this was a period of transformation.

Shah Jahan, third son of Jahangir, became Emperor in 1628. He emphasized more on
architecture to proclaim his power and might especially because paintings were more
controversial because of theological injunctions against depiction of human & animal
life. White marbles with inlaid coloured stones replaced red sandstone and this affected
the paintings as well, which came to be surrounded by highly ornamented borders in
which bright hued flowers, butterflies and birds are freely introduced. Artistic freedom
was restricted for maintenance of a uniform standard of quality. Art became more
decentralized and popular especially with non-Mughal encouragement/patronage. Under
Dara Shikoh, Catholic leanings and feminity of forms came about. What followed was a
“commercial phase” of painting showing the first signs of decay.

Aurangzeb is usually blamed for the decay of art because of his “puritanical personality”
and is associated with religious oppression and wanton destruction of art works. A
department to cope with certain social abuses was organized. However, the presence of
certain works like the portrait of Aurangzeb in several scenarios shows that the emperor
used art to his advantage as and when he wanted to. As popular demand grew, the
standards fell and portraiture ceased to be a craft degenerating into a mere trade where
copies of portraits were reproduced by means of paper stencils.

With Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, Mughal painting almost faded away. Till the first half of
the 18th century several puppet kings followed him and only under Muhammad Shah was
some order brought about till 1748. Following indifference to artistic treasures, art spread
to the neighbouring regions. The Mughal School had ceased to exist after artists left the
Mughal court after its decline and several local qalams developed.

European influences played a very significant role in the development of Mughal art.
Europeanization of the country began in the 16 th century during Babur’s reign when
Portuguese factories were established at Calicut, Cochin & Goa.

Under Akbar, encouragement was provided to the European artists, the court artists to
copy European works and to adapt individual motifs into individual composition. Among
the European devices employed were far-off townscapes, figures diminishing in size with
distance and use of fabric to define physical volumes. However, there was only a
modified degree of western influence.

During the reign of Jahangir, after 1615 when the English embassy arrived many secular
pictures made their appearance in the court. In 1619, a European made the Emperor’s
throne in gold & silver. Portraiture assumed importance- the use of the golden nimbus
was restricted only for the emperor, who believed in the divinity of the kings as
distinguished from others. Most western forms/expressions were transformed or
Indianized.

A clear European influence was the depiction of angels, birds and stars in wall paintings.
While European forms underwent Mughalization, Mughal forms were realized with
European stylistic techniques.

Under Shahjahan, though western influence in art increased, the employment of western
talent decreased. Among the less obvious signs of influence is the increase in the use of
shadows, linear & aerial perspectives and a different treatment of landscape.

Aurangzeb probably stopped the import of European pictures but the influence continued.
After power was transferred from Delhi to Lucknow and Hyderabad following the break
up of the Mughal Empire, the Mughal School of painting also disintegrated. Only
degraded examples of art and copies of western pictures were produced. Thus, Indian
painting became a stagnant reflection of the west.

The art of portraiture/portrait painting developed out of an individual’s eagerness for

immortality, historical or pictorial. It was not a Mughal innovation and developed out of
the ancient Persian & Indian literature and out of the gift of ‘graphic-narration’,
impressions in a few short sentences, prevalent amongst the Mughals. Illustrated
genealogical trees like the ‘Princes of the House of Timur’ were made to show Emperors
in close communion with his forbears. It was mainly a masculine art that neglected the
depiction of woman subjects. Mainly a result of decorative production, portraits were
usually still & lifeless. The technique, first, entailed the making of a thumbnail sketch of
the sitter in black and white. Extremely fine outlines of the features are made in a fine
grey or neutral colour. Delicate & carefully blended tones were used to represent the
different qualities of the face. Skillful handling of the head’s pose, figure under draperies
and representation of hands was evident.

Mughal ‘group portraiture’/’Jharoka’ image developed out of the practice of the Emperor
to acquire confirmation through regular public appearances, usually in two forms:
“jharoka-i-darshan” (by viewing window on outer wall of the palace) and “jharoka-i-
khass-u-amm” (in the balcony on back wall of the audience-hall).

Koch traces the origins of this imagery in Akbar’s time when paintings had small figures
moving about in uncoordinated perspective sphere. Under Jahangir, there was a new
emphasis on realistic representations with most scenes depicting private durbars showing
the emperor surrounded by several nobles. Moreover, a pure profile was now used to
depict Jahangir & most of his courtiers.

Shah Jahan, in his attempts to discipline the jharoka-imagery transformed it into a

standardized image of imperial authority of Shah Jahan, from being just a record of
historical gathering. Figures needed to be organized into a composition of strict bilateral
symmetry (‘qarina’) within the architecture.

Koch further identifies the pictorial jharoka as modeled upon actual architecture only
towards the end of Shah Jahan’s reign.

In portraiture, beauty replaced insight into personality and energy of Akbar’s period. Dara
Shikoh, the eldest son of Shahjahan, sought to reconcile Islam and Hinduism by portrayal
of intimate encounters/moments, e.g. “Lovers on terrace”

During Akbar’s reign, under conditions of centrality of Mughal power, a new

imperialistic style evolved simultaneously with a new religious system of the ‘Din-i-
Ilahi” (divine faith) with the emperor emphasizing his ultimate authority in the
interpretation of religious doctrine. Book came in two sizes: large volumes with many
illustrations- official volumes or state documents that impressed with size or richness of
materials; and small books meant for “private delectation” which contain the finest
illustrations.

the famous works of the 1580s include the Tarikh I Alfi (“History of a thousand”, about
the first thousand years of Islam) and the Timurnama, an illustrated chronicle of Timur’s
life. Concern for physical veracity replaces the formal and narrative intensity in Mughal
art. Daswanth and Basawan were the chief painters of the court during this time.

In the 1590s, Iran and Europe represented the standards to judge Mughal paintings.
Illustrations acquired sophistication with subtle colour transitions, detailed representation
of architecture or textiles with use of rich, varied and expensive pigments. A central
control over workshop production is evident, as styles remained consistent in the
manuscripts.

The Akbarnama provides visual evidence for Akbar’s character and physical vitality. A
new naturalism with a factual representation of historical events is attempted at. Artists
were now allowed to work alone. A lavish character is lent by the double page
illustrations. Akbar is presented as an active participant in world affairs through pictorial
conventions established in the Timurnama. The second Akbarnama was a refinement of
Akbari style and its artists matured under Jahangir’s reign.

Emperor Jahangir, in 1591 had established a court at Allahabad as Prince Salim and gave
tremendous support to the painters. Interplay of human personalities and their
uniqueness/individualities are concentrated upon, i.e. it becomes exclusively an art of
portraiture.

Pictures- Iranian/Turkish paintings, Deccani illustrations, European paintings, Mughal

copies, Mughal original works- were collected into albums called ‘muraqqas’. Border
designs of calligraphies are generally figural while those around illustrations have floral
or arabesque illuminations. The ‘border-portraits’ sometimes competed with the central
panel for the viewer’s attention. Certain individualized portraitures of women come up,
especially the portrait of Nur Jahan with a rifle.

The Jahangirnama contains no scenes of action showing the Emperor in full control of an
already established power with most of the scenes concerned with establishing his own
spiritual and religious credentials.

The Padshahnamas commissioned by Shah Jahan from Muhammad Amin Qazwini

(till1646), Abd al Hamid and Muhmmad Waris (till 1656) reveal less personally with few
scenes of action. Most show court ceremonials or military victories. Main aim was to
assert the Emperor’s power. Realism manifested itself with a microscopic treatment of
every surface texture, and of representation and animal life. Water colour technique was
perfected to reproduce effects of oil painting. The paintings in the manuscript provide the
most detailed pictorial records of Mughal court culture.