Mughal Court Painting

The Mughal school of painting had gained recognition as a distinctive style of painting

which reached full maturity during the 17th century. Generally made as miniature as either

book illustrations or as single works Mughal painting evolved from Persian school of

miniature painting with Hindu, Buddhist and Jain influences. The early origins of the Mughal

school of painting can be traced back to Kabul which was a Cultural Centre. During his stay

at the court of Persian ruler, Humayun met painters Mir Saiyid Ali for Abdus Samad and

promised them future employment when he retrieved his Kingdom. Later they joined

Humayun in Kabul and moved with him to Delhi.

After Hymayun’s death his son Akbar showed great interest in art and Mughal painting

flourished under him. Akbar, who had received drawing lessons from Abdus Samad in his

childhood, commissioned several literary and religious texts. He had an impressive number of

painters in his court numbering almost one hundred and fifty. He is known as the real founder

of Mughal school of painting. The chief painters of his time were Saiyid Ali, Abdus Samad

and Baswan. Baswan is mentioned in twelve miniatures illustrating the Razam Nama. Akbar

was very fond of painting and during his reign painting was organised as an imperial

establishment of Karkhana (Tasvir Khana). Of the seventeen painters mentioned by name by

Abul Fazal thirteen were Hindus. Even low caste people like Daswant, who was the son of a

kahar or palanquin bearer, could be hired as royal artists due to their skills. Painters were

given monthly salaries and the emperor gave them rewards on basis of their works.

Commodities needed by the painters were provided to them. The drawings covered themes

including war, hunting scenes, mythical beings, building activities etc. Portrait painting was

another favourite theme during Akbar's reign. Akbar ordered his artists to draw all the
important courtiers. Two or more artists worked together—one made the tarrah (sketch),

another the ami (painting), occasionally a third did the chir numa (portrait) and sometimes a

fourth made the surat (figure drawing). One of the earliest painting projects commissiond by

Akbar was Hamza Nama. Under Saiyid Ali and Abdus Samad a group of roughly one

hundred painters drawn from Gwalior, Gujarat, Lahore, Kashmir, Malwa etc. took fifteen

years to complete the work and made one thousand and four hundred pages of illustrations.

Other projects such as Anwar Suhaili, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Yoga Vasisht, Nafhat-ul-

Uns. were also taken up. Illustrations of historical manuscripts became the distinctive

contribution of Akbar's time, which included Tarikh-i-Alft, Darab Namha, Shah Namah,

Timur Namah, Babur Namah, Akbar Namah etc. In 1580 Akbar was visited by a group of

Jesuit priests who presented him with a copy of the Polyglot Bible illustrated with Flemish

engravings, which the emperor ordered his painters to copy. Soon other European paintings

were brought to his court and studied. As a result Mughal artists began to use perspective, to

employ light and shade, to lower the horizons in the pictures, and to represent the sky more

realistically with cloud elements and sunsets. The Tuti Namah and Anwar Suhaili show each

bird and animal with detailed realism. Under Akbar Mughal painting was freed from Persian

rigidity by introducing a three-dimensional effect. Indian trees and flowers, Indian buildings,

Indian colours etc. were introduced in the pictures.

Mughal painting reached its climax under Jahangir when apart from painting hunting, battle

and court scenes, special importance was given on portrait painting and paintings of animals,

flowers etc. Even before his coronation, Prince Salim had employed a number of painters,

notably Aqa Riza. Other famous painters of his time where Bishan Das, Madhu, Anant,

Manohar, Govardhan and Ustad Mansur. During his time European influence made a greater

impact. Colours became softer and melt harmoniously to give a more naturalistic

representation of landscapes. Jahangir even used European paintings including portraits of

Kings and Queens as references and asked his artists to take up the single point perspective

preferred by European painters. Soon after his accession Jahangir ordered albums composed

of mounted pictures of uniform size. Each folio had paintings on one side and calligraphy on

the other. He particularly encouraged paintings depicting events of his own life, individual

portraits, and studies of birds, flowers, animals. His autobiographical account, Jahangirnama,

had several paintings. During the last ten years of Jahangir’s reign Mughal paintings showed

an increased penchant for symbolism.

Shah Jahan continued to patronise painting, however, paintings of this time lacked dynamic

energy of Akbar's time and the love of nature shown by Jahangir. The colours of the paintings

became more decorative and gold was more frequently used for embellishment. The previous

practice of painting portraits, albums, and illustrations continued. Additionally, drawings

depicting love scenes and portraits of female members made appearance. The visit of the

emperor with his nobles and royal ladies to ascetics became an important theme. A new

technique consisting fine, delicate line drawings, slightly tinted with washes of pale colours

and gold and known as Siyahi Qalam became fashionable. ‘Emperor Shah Jahan on the

Peacock Throne’ was one of the best known Mughal miniatures. Another important work of

his reign was the Padshahanama which had so elaborate drawings that even servants were

painted with amazing details that provided individuality to each and every character.

Though Aurangzeb did not encourage any form of art some of the best Mughal paintings

were created under his reign. It is said that seasoned painters created a few paintings on their

own in the workshops. He might have developed some interest to have his portraits painted in

later years, because there are some portraits where Aurangzeb is shown as hunting or holding

a copy of the Quran. His lack of enthusiasm led to a dispersal of the artists to different places

of the country. Several artists dismissed from his court found shelter in the courts of several
Hindu and Muslim provincial rulers. It resulted in the development of painting in Rajasthan

and the Punjab hills.