Mughal Paintings

Mughal painting reflects an exclusive combination of Indian, Persian and Islamic

styles. As the name suggests, these paintings evolved as well as developed during
the rule of Mughal Emperors in India, between 16th to 19th century.

Despite the objection of orthodox religious leaders, who regarded painting as

un-Islamic, the Mughal emperors patronized this art. The Mughal paintings of
India revolved around themes, like battles, court scenes, legendary stories,
hunting scenes, wildlife, portraits, mythology etc.
 Origin

The beginnings of the Mughal paintings in

India can be traced to the time when Babar,
the founder of the Mughal empire in India was
impressed with the expressive power of the
Persian painter Behzad in Herat.

Babar expressed his admiration to his son

Humayun, who brought back with him from
Persia two of the best artists of the time, Mir
Sayyad Ali of Tabriz and Abd al Shamad of
Shiraz.

He appointed them to various honorary and

administrative posts, but their task was
actually to lay the foundations for that
Indo-Persian school that was soon to achieve
topmost quantative and qualitative levels of
production.

Princes of the House of Timur by Abd as-Samad, (1550)

commissioned by Babar
Abd al Shamad or Mirza Ali (1539–43)

Layla and Majnun (by Mir Sayyad Ali (1540)

 Workshops
The output of the miniatures was an organized, almost
industrialized undertaking dictated by the taste of the
emperor and his court.

The Persian painters of in the service of Humayun set up

large workshops where ‘teams’ undertook and carried out
the illustration of not only monumental, rich works, such as
the famous Dastan-i-Amir Hamzah, but also less extensive
and simpler pictoral cycles.

Two or more artists often worked at the same miniature - a

designer, a colorist, sometimes a portraiture specialist, and a
minor detail painter.

Obviously, the purpose of this teamwork was to speed and

increase production by a sort of industrialization.

Miniature painting for ‘The History of Babar’

(Babar Namah) (1530)
 Akbar
The emperor Akbar and his son Jahangir were
taken with the artful perspective effects of
European works and had them studied and
imitated though they were foreign to Islamic
taste.

Engravings by the western masters such as Durer

served as models and in a sense as ability tests for
the Mughal artists.

The works of the Italian painters and engravers,

seen in the original or in excellent reproductions,
also left visible traces in Mughal miniatures.

In the early Mughal period, in the reigns of

Humayun, Akbar and Jahangir, the interest in
painting was keen.

The Madonna and Child with St. Joseph

dressed as a Jesuit missionary
Virgin and Child near a Fountain by Bernard van Orley The Madonna and Child, miniature during Jahangir’s time
 Akbar
Mughal painting experienced large-scale
growth under the reign of Emperor Akbar.

During that time, hundreds of artists used

to paint under the direction of the two
Persian artists.

Themes celebrated the sultans’ war

enterprise, their hunts and the salient
episodes of lives full of adventures and
surprises.

The paintings created at this time were

flavoured with creative impulse and zest
for life.

Scene from life at court, a prince receiving fruit as

a sign of homage and well-wishing. Akbar Period
Since the Emperor was fond of tales, one can see
the paintings mainly being based on the
Mahabharata, Ramayana and Persian epics.
Mughal paintings also started illustrating an
enhanced naturalism, with animal tales,
landscape, portraits, etc.

Akbar watching the capture of a wild elephant

near Malwa.Illustration from Akbar Nama (1564)
Abu'l-Fazl presenting Akbarnama to Akbar. Mughal miniature. The defeat of Hemu by Kankar (from Akbar nama)
 Vanaras help Rama build a sea bridge. The Razmnama : the Mughal
Akbar as a young boy translation of the Ramayana commissioned by Akbar late 1600s India
 Hamzanama
The Hamzanama, narrates the legendary exploits
of Amir Hamza, an uncle of Muhammad, though
most of the stories are extremely fanciful, "a
continuous series of romantic interludes,
threatening events, narrow escapes, and violent
acts"

Akbar commissioned his court workshop to create

an illustrated manuscript of the Hamzanama early
in his reign (he was by then about twenty), which
was conceived on such an unusually large scale
that it took fourteen years, from about 1562 to
1577, to complete.

Apart from the text, it included 1400 full page

Mughal miniatures of an unusually large size,
nearly all painted on paper, which were then glued
to a cloth backing. The work was bound in 14
volumes.

According to contemporary accounts, about thirty

main artists were used, and over a hundred men
worked on the various aspects of the book in all.
 Jahangir
Emperor Jahangir extended great support to
various art forms, especially paintings. This period
saw more refinement in brushwork, along with the
use of much lighter and subdued colors.

The naturalistic tendency of depiction of subjects

reached its peak in both quality and popularity.
The accurate and clever studies of animals, birds,
and flowers belong with the best creations of the
Mughal period.

The main themes of the Mughal paintings

revolved around the events from Jahangir's own
life, along with portraits, birds, flowers, animals,
etc. One of the most popular examples of Mughal
paintings of this time include the pictorial
illustrations of the Jahangir-nama, the biography
of Emperor Jahangir.

Jahangir holding a portrait of Akbar

Episode in the life of Jahangir Jauhar Miniature (Akbar’s seige of Chittor)
 Shahjahan

Jahangir was succeeded by Shah Jahan

(1628–1658), whose most notable architectural
contribution is the Taj Mahal.

Paintings under his rule were more formal,

featuring court scenes, in contrast to the personal
styles from his predecessor's time.
However, the sensitivity of the paintings from his
father’s time was replaced by coldness and
rigidity.

The themes of that time revolved around musical

parties, lovers on terraces and gardens, ascetics
gathered around a fire, etc.

Portrait of the emperor Shah Jahan, enthroned (1700)

 Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb (1658–1707), who held
increasingly orthodox Sunni beliefs,
forcibly took the throne from his
father Shah Jahan.

With a ban of music and painting in

1680, his reign saw the decline of
Mughal patronage of the arts.
Slowly, due to the lessening support,
a declining movement was initiated in
the course of Mughal paintings in
India.

A durbar scene with the newly crowned Emperor Aurangzeb

 Influence on the West
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt a well known Dutch master was one of
the earliest European admirers of Mughal Art.

He drew at least 2 dozen versions of Mughal

miniatures he had collected and some of his
artworks from a later period reflect this “oriental”
inspiration.

Rembrandt did not reproduce the miniatures in

their exact form but changed the medium and
introduced perspective and shading — adjusting
his style to echo the delicacy of the original
paintings. He then incorporated elements from
the miniatures.
Four Mullahs, artist unknown (1627–28) Four Mullahs Seated under a Tree by Rembrandt (1656–61)
Shah Jahan and his four sons by Willem Schellincks (late 17th century)
Shah Jahan and his four sons by Willem Schellincks (1770)