Mughal Painting

Mughal painting is a style of painting on paper confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums (muraqqa), from the territory of the Mughal Empire in South Asia. It emerged from Persian miniature painting (itself partly of Chinese origin) and developed in the court of the Mughal Empire of the 16th to 18th centuries. Battles, legendary stories, hunting scenes, wildlife, royal life, mythology, as well as other subjects have all been frequently depicted in paintings.

The Mughal emperors were Muslims and they are credited with consolidating Islam in South Asia, and spreading Muslim (and particularly Persian) arts and culture as well as the faith.

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Govardhan, Emperor Jahangir visiting the ascetic Jadrup, c. 1616–20

Portraits�

• From fairly early the Mughal style made a strong feature of realistic portraiture, normally in profile, and influenced by Western prints, which were available at the Mughal court. This had never been a feature of either Persian miniature or earlier Indian painting. The pose, rarely varied in portraits, was to have the head in strict profile, but the rest of the body half turned towards the viewer. For a long time portraits were always of men, often accompanied by generalized female servants or concubines; but there is scholarly debate about the representation of female court members in portraiture. Some scholars claim there are no known extant likenesses of figures like Jahanara Begum and Mumtaz Mahal, and others attribute miniatures, for example from the Dara Shikoh album or the Freer Gallery of Art mirror portrait, to these famous noblewomen.The single idealized figure of the Riza Abbasi type was less popular, but fully painted scenes of lovers in a palace setting became popular later. Drawings of genre scenes, especially showing holy men, whether Muslim or Hindu, were also popular.

The Emperor Shah Jahan standing on a globe, with a halo and European-style putti, c. 1618–19 to 1629.

Illustrated books�

• In the formative period of the style, under Akbar, the imperial workshop produced a number of heavily illustrated copies of established books in Persian. One of the first, probably from the 1550s and now mostly in the Cleveland Museum of Art, was a Tutinama with some 250 rather simple and rather small miniatures, most with only a few figures. In contrast the Hamzanama Akbar commissioned had unusually large pages, of densely woven cotton rather than the usual paper, and the images were very often crowded with figures. The work was "a continuous series of romantic interludes, threatening events, narrow escapes, and violent acts", supposedly telling the life of an uncle of Muhammad. Akbar's manuscript had a remarkable total of some 1400 miniatures, one on every opening, with the relevant text written on the back of the page, presumably to be read to the emperor as he looked at each image. This colossal project took most of the 1560s, and probably beyond. These and a few other early works saw a fairly unified Mughal workshop style emerge by around 1580.

Nilgai by Ustad Mansur (fl. 1590–1624), who specialized in birds and animal studies for albums

Origins�

• Mughal court painting, as opposed to looser variants of the Mughal style produced in regional courts and cities, drew little from indigenous non-Muslim traditions of painting. These were Hindu and Jain, and earlier Buddhist, and almost entirely religious. They existed mainly in relatively small illustrations to texts, but also mural paintings, and paintings in folk styles on cloth, in particular ones on scrolls made to be displayed by popular singers or reciters of the Hindu epics and other stories, performed by travelling specialists; very few early examples of these last survive. A vivid Kashmiri tradition of mural paintings flourished between the 9th and 17th centuries, as seen in the murals of Alchi Monastery or Tsaparang: a number of Kashimiri painters were employed by Akbar and some influence of their art can be seen in various Mughal works, such as the Hamzanama.

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Babur Receives a Courtier by Farrukh Beg c. 1580–85. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, painted and mounted within borders, from a Rawżat aṣ-ṣafāʾ. Still using the style of Persian miniature.

Humayun (1530–1540 and 1555–1556)�

• When the second Mughal emperor, Humayun was in exile in Tabriz in the Safavid court of Shah Tahmasp I of Persia, he was exposed to Persian miniature painting, and commissioned at least one work there (or in Kabul), an unusually large painting on cloth of Princes of the House of Timur, now in the British Museum. Originally a group portrait with his sons, in the next century Jahangir had it added to make it a dynastic group including dead ancestors. When Humayun returned to India, he brought two accomplished Persian artists Abd al-Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali with him. His usurping brother Kamran Mirza had maintained a workshop in Kabul, which Humayan perhaps took over into his own. Humayan's major known commission was a Khamsa of Nizami with 36 illuminated pages, in which the different styles of the various artists are mostly still apparent. Apart from the London painting, he also commissioned at least two miniatures showing himself with family members,a type of subject that was rare in Persia but common among the Mughals.

Princes of the House of Timur, attributed to the Persian Abd as-Samad, c. 1550–1555, with additions in the next century under Jahangir.

Akbar (r. 1556–1605)�

• 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.
• Between 1560 and 1566 the Tutinama ("Tales of a Parrot"), now in the Cleveland Museum of Art was illustrated, showing "the stylistic components of the imperial Mughal style at a formative stage". Among other manuscripts, between 1562 and 1577 the atelier worked on an illustrated manuscript of the Hamzanama consisting of 1,400 cotton folios, unusually large at 69 cm x 54 cm (approx. 27 x 20 inches) in size. 

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Emperor Jahangir weighs Prince Khurram by Manohar Das, 1610–15, from Jahangir's own copy of the Tuzk-e-Jahangiri. The names of the main figures are noted on their clothes, and the artist shown at bottom. British Museum

Jahangir (1605–1625)�

• Jahangir had an artistic inclination and during his reign Mughal painting developed further. Brushwork became finer and the colours 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 Tuzk-e-Jahangiri (or Jahangirnama), written during his lifetime, which is an autobiographical account of Jahangir's reign, has several paintings, including some unusual subjects such as the union of a saint with a tigress, and fights between spiders. Mughal paintings made during Jahangir's reign continued the trend of Naturalism and were influenced by the resurgence of Persian styles and subjects over more traditional Hindu.

Shah Jahan (1628–1659)

• During the reign of Shah Jahan (1628–58), Mughal paintings continued to develop, but court paintings became more rigid and formal. The illustrations from the "Padshanama" (chronicle of the King of the world), one of the finest Islamic manuscripts from the Royal Collection, at Windsor, were painted during the reign of Shah Jahan. Written in Persian on paper that is flecked with gold, has exquisitely rendered paintings. The "Padshahnama" has portraits of the courtiers and servants of the King painted with great detail and individuality. In keeping with the strict formality at court, however the portraits of the King and important nobles was rendered in strict profile, whereas servants and common people, depicted with individual features have been portrayed in the three-quarter view or the frontal view.

Later paintings

• Aurangzeb (1658–1707) was never an enthusiastic patron of painting, largely for religious reasons , and took a turn away from the pomp and ceremonial of the court around 1668, after which he probably commissioned no more paintings. After 1681 he moved to the Deccan to pursue his slow conquest of the Deccan Sultanates, never returning to live in the north.
• Mughal paintings continued to survive, but the decline had set in. Some sources however note that a few of the best Mughal paintings were made for Aurangzeb, speculating that they believed that he was about to close the workshops and thus exceeded themselves in his behalf. There was a brief revival during the reign of Muhammad Shah 'Rangeela' (1719–48), but by the time of Shah Alam II (1759–1806), the art of Mughal painting had lost its glory. By that time, other schools of Indian painting had developed, including, in the royal courts of the Rajput kingdoms of Rajputana, Rajput painting and in the cities ruled by the British East India Company, the Company style under Western influence. Late Mughal style often shows increased use of perspective and recession under Western influence.

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A durbar scene with the newly crowned Emperor Aurangzeb in his golden throne. Though he did not encourage Mughal painting, some of the best work was done during his reign.

Farrukh Beg�

• Farrukh Beg (Persian: فرخ بیگ) (ca. 1547), also known as Farrukh Husayn, was a Persian miniature painter, who spent a bulk of his career in Safavid Iran and Mughal India, praised by Mughal Emperor Jahangir as “unrivaled in the age.”
• Farrukh Beg was credited with painting a plethora of Persian and Mughal paintings, a handful of which survive today. His work showed his distinct training in Persian manuscript painting, which later on evolved to include more experimental techniques such as atmospheric perspective and modeling.^[3] Beg had produced miniature paintings under the patronage of five known rulers in West Asia and South Asia: Ibrahim Mirza of Safavid Mashhad, Mirza Muhammad Hakim of Kabul, Akbar in Mughal India and later his son Jahangir, and Ibrahim Adil Shah II of the Sultanate of Bijapur.^[4] His distinct style came to be revered by his contemporaries and patrons, due to a distinct homogeneity, evolving as a result of his Persian training and experiences in cosmopolitan Mughal courts. His life was later mired in mystery due to his sudden hiatus from the Mughal court sometime after 1595, rejoining the Mughal atelier around 1609^] Evidence has shown he spent a bulk of this time in Bijapur under the patronage of Ibrahim Adil Shah II of the Sultanate of Bijapur.

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Self-Portrait of Farrukh Beg

�Daswanth

Basawan�

• Basāwan, or Basāvan (flourished 1580–1600), was an Indian miniature painter in the Mughal style. He was known by his contemporaries as a skilled colorist and keen observer of human nature, and for his use of portraiture in the illustrations of Akbarnama, Mughal Emperor, Akbar's official Biography, which is seen as an innovation in Indian art.

A Court Scene from Sadi's Gulistan (Rose Garden), 1596

Ustad Mansur�

• Ustad Mansur (flourished 1590-1624) was a seventeenth-century Mughal painter and court artist. He grew up during the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605 - 1627) during which period he excelled at depicting plants and animals. He was the earliest artist to depict the dodo in colour, apart from being the first to illustrate the Siberian crane. Towards the end of Akbar's reign, he gained the title of ustad (=master) and during the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir his masterpieces earned him the title of Nãdir-al-’Asr ("Unequalled of the age"). Although largely known for his natural history illustrations, he also portrayed people in various manuscript illustrations.

A painting depicting the dodo ascribed to Ustad Mansur dated to the period 1628-33. This is one of the few coloured images of the dodo made from a living specimen.

Abu'l-Hasan (artist)

• Abu al-Hasan was the son of Aqa Reza of Herat in Safavid Iran, a city with an artistic tradition. Aqa Reza was established as an artist and took up employment with Jahangir (r. 1605 –1627) before the latter's accession to the throne of the Mughal empire. When Abu al-Hasan began producing art, the emperor, Jahangir, appreciated the skills of the boy. In 1599, Abu al-Hasan moved with Jahangir to his newly founded court in Allahabad.
• The emperor considered Abu al-Hasan to be particularly special to him and under his care.This is because although Abu al-Hasan's artwork was similar in many ways to his father's with Dutch and English influence, it was considered to be of a higher quality similar to that of older masters in the field. Jahangir said of Abu al-Hasan that he had no equal and for the work done on the frontispiece for his memoires, the emperor bestowed the title Nadir-uz-Saman ("Wonder of the Age") on Abu al-Hasan in 1618.

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Portrait of Abu al-Hasan by Daulat from the Gulshan Album (c. 1610)

Mughal style�

Nur Jahan

Portrait of Akbar

Victory of Ali Quli Khan on the river Gomti-Akbarnama, 1561

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Mir Sayyid Ali's depiction of a young scholar in the Mughal Empire

Thanks

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• Dr. Shailender Kumar
• (Assist.Prof.)
• Fine Arts Dept.