Basics
- Traces its root to persian style.
- The focus shifted from depicting the god to glorifying the ruler.
- They focused on hunting scenes, historical events and other court related paintings
- They used brilliant colours.
- They brought the technique of foreshortening to the Indian painter’s repertoire.
- Under this technique, “objects were drawn in a way that they look closer and smaller than they really are.”
Early Mughal Painters
- Babur patronised the Persian artist Bihzad who made some illustrations of the Mughal family tree.
- Humayun was one of the main patrons of Mughal paintings and he acquired the services of two main painters called Abdus Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali who came back with him after he won his throne back and established the Mughal dynasty in India.
Akbar Period
- During Akbar’s reign, they created an illustrated manuscript called Tutinama (Tales of a Parrot).
- Akbar was responsible for the establishment of an entire department devoted to the painting and scribing of his documents.
- He established a formal artistic studio called Tasvir Khana.
- The ‘Indian influence’ started in the Mughal paintings.
- Features
- Use of 3 dimensional figures.
- The artists encouraged the use of calligraphy in the paintings.
- This period saw the transformation of popular art to court art.
- Famous painters of this period include: Daswanth, Basawan and Kesu.
- Famous works of this period: Tutinama, Hamzanama, Anvar-i-Suhaili and Gulistan of Sadi.
Jahangir Period
- The Mughal paintings reached its peak during the period of Jahangir.
- Focused on the naturalist type of painting and preferred the paintings of flora and fauna.
- Shifted from illustrated manuscripts to albums and emphasised on bringing naturalism to portrait (individual) painting.
- One of the unique trends that developed in this period was of decorated margins around the paintings.
- One of the most famous artists from his period was Ustad Mansoor.
- An animal fable called Ayar-i-Danish (Touchstone of Knowledge) was illustrated during his reign.
Shah Jahan
- Shah Jahan liked creating artificial elements in the paintings.
- Tried to reduce the liveliness of the paintings and he was inspired by European influence.
- He eschewed the use of charcoal to draw and encouraged the artists to draw and sketch using a pencil.
- Increased use of gold and silver in the paintings.
Aurangzeb
- During the reign of Aurangzeb, there was a sharp decline in the activities of painting.