The Mughal School of Miniature Painting Chapter Notes | Fine Art for Class 12 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

Mughal Painting

Mughal painting is a style of miniature painting that originated in northern India in the sixteenth century and continued till the mid–nineteenth century. It is known for its sophisticated techniques and diverse range of subjects and themes. This chapter aims to explore the development and influences of Mughal painting in detail.

Patronage of Mughal Art

The Mughals were great patrons of various art forms, including calligraphy, painting, architecture, bookmaking, and book illustration projects. Each Mughal successor, based on his taste and preferences, contributed towards enhancing the status of art. They took a keen interest in artists’ ateliers and nurtured new styles that heightened and accelerated the existing art scenario of India. Therefore, understanding the political history and genealogy of the Mughal dynasty is crucial for understanding Mughal Painting.

Influences on Mughal Painting

The Mughal style of miniature painting was responsible for the amalgamation of indigenous themes and styles along with Persian and later European themes and styles. The arts of this period reflect a synthesis of foreign influences and indigenous flavour. The peak of Mughal painting presented a highly sophisticated blend of the Islamic, Hindu and European visual culture and aesthetics. This style of painting surpassed the conventional and indigenous Indian and Iranian painting of that time. The significance of this style lies in the purpose and efforts of its patrons and the unmatched skill of its artists.

Development of Mughal Painting

In the Mughal courts, arts became more formalized, and workshops were set up. Many artists were brought from Iran, which resulted in a harmonious blend of Indo-Iranian styles, especially during its early years. This celebrated eminence in Mughal art was possible only due to its distinctive character of assimilating and engaging artists of both Indian and Iranian origins, who contributed towards making and further elevating the artistic paradigm of the Mughal style. The Mughal style of painting did not grow in a vacuum, but was nurtured by direct interaction with other art forms and schools that already existed. The indigenous Indian and Mughal painting styles coexisted, assimilated the influences and various native talents in different ways.

Early Mughal Painting

The chapter focuses on the early Mughal paintings that originated during the Mughal era in India. The Mughals were known for their love for art, and their patronage of artists led to the creation of many masterpieces. This chapter talks about the art, culture, and aesthetics of the Mughals and how their paintings were influenced by Persian and Central Asian culture.

Babur, the first Mughal Emperor
Babur was a descendant of Emperor Timur and Chatghtai Turk. With his arrival, he brought with him the cultural background and aesthetic sensibilities of Persia and Central Asia. Babur was a keen patron of art, manuscripts, architecture, gardening, etc. He established a tradition of keeping memoirs, a practice which was followed by his successors in India. Babur was interested in portraiture, and among the artists who find mention in his memoirs is Bihzad, a master artist from the Persian school of painting, Herat, and Shah Muzaffar, a painter who Babur thought excelled in the representation of hairstyle.

Humayun, the successor of Babur
Humayun was Babur's successor, who fell prey to political unrest and took refuge in the court of the Safavid Persian ruler, Shah Tahmasp. It was during his exile in Shah Tahmasp's court that Humayun witnessed the magnificent artistic tradition of miniature paintings and manuscripts. He invited two Persian artists, Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd us Samad, to establish a studio in his court and carry out royal paintings. Humayun's rule began a period of intense patronage for the art of painting and calligraphy. He founded the Nigaar Khana (painting workshop), which was also a part of his library.

Mughal Paintings in India

Akbar, the son of Humayun, was also passionate about arts and had more than a hundred artists employed in the royal atelier. He integrated the Persian and Indian styles of painting and created his unique style, which was a fusion of both. Akbar also established a strong bond between art and the imperial court. He commissioned the illustration of Hamza Nama, which was started by his father. The Mughal painting during the early period followed Persian themes, figures, and color palettes. However, this vocabulary changed to accommodate the growing and peculiar Mughal sensibility and distinct imperial taste.

Hamza Nama Painting: Spies Attack the City of Kaymar (1567-82)
The Hamza Nama painting depicts a scene where the spies of Hamza attack the city of Kaymar. The painting uses vibrant colours to energize the unfolding of the story, and the space is sharply cut and divided to facilitate the visual reading of the narrative. The foliage and other forms are sharply defined by a strong outer line, and the faces are mostly seen in profile, with some shown in three-fourth view. The intricate patterns on the floor, columns, and canopy are from Persian sources, while the trees and creepers indicate Indian influence.

Razm Nama and Ramayana Translation: Integration of Cultures
Akbar commissioned the translation and illustration of Hindu texts into Persian, including the Mahabharata, which was completed in 1589 and came to be known as Razm Nama. This manuscript contained 169 paintings and was scribed in ornate calligraphy. The translation and illustration of the Ramayana were also carried out around this time. Akbar personally engaged with the artists, supervising and evaluating their work. The Mughal painting under Akbar's patronage depicted a variety of subjects, including political conquests, court scenes, secular texts, portraits of important men, Hindu mythologies, and Persian and Islamic themes.

Madonna and Child Painting: Adaptation of Naturalism
In the painting Madonna and Child (1580), we see an increasing preference for a category of naturalism adapted to compliment the growing diversity in medieval India. This important early work of the Mughal School of Painting brings the Byzantine art, European classical, and its Renaissance to the Mughal atelier, where it is translated and transformed into an entirely different visual experience. The mother and child's attachment is inspired by the humanist interpretation in European Renaissance art, and the physiology of the child, along with certain details like the fan and jewelry, integrates the work into an Indian milieu.

Jahangir and his contribution to Mughal painting
Jahangir, also known as Prince Salim, was a keen patron of the arts and had a great interest in achieving scientific correctness in the depiction of flora and fauna. He rebelled against the formalized and established imperial atelier of Akbar to establish his own atelier alongside his father's. He employed Aqa Riza, a well-known Iranian painter, and his son Abul Hasan to achieve unparalleled sophistication in painting. Under his patronage, Mughal painting achieved naturalism and scientific accuracy of the highest degree.

Jahangir's Atelier and the Muraqqas
In contrast to Akbar's atelier, where the works were mass-produced, Jahangir's atelier gave preference to a lesser number and better quality of artworks produced by a single master artist. The Muraqqas, individual paintings mounted in albums, became popular under Jahangir's patronage. The margins of the paintings were highly illuminated in gold and embellished with flora, fauna, and often poised human figures. The war scenes, portraits, narrative and storytelling prevalent in Akbar's style were overtaken by minute details and refined rendering of lavish court scenes, aristocracy, royal personalities, as well as character traits and distinctiveness of flora and fauna.

The Influence of European Art on Mughal Painting

Jahangir was presented with paintings and decorative objects depicting high arts from Europe as gifts from the Europeans who visited his court. This exposure to European art prompted him to have more such works in his collection. Many celebrated religious Christian themes were also produced in the royal atelier of Jahangir. Given this cultural and artistic exposure, European art sensibilities started making their way into the prevalent Indo-Iranian style, thereby making the Jahangir school of art more impressive and vibrant.

The Artistic Assimilation of Indigenous, Persian and European Styles
The artists of the Mughal atelier creatively assimilated the three styles - indigenous, Persian, and European - making the Mughal Art School a melting pot of vibrant styles of its time yet distinct in its own way. The spatial depth of the composition and naturalistic representation of life reflect the high benchmarks that Jahangir created for art during his lifetime.

Examples of Jahangir's Paintings

Jahangir in Darbar from Jahangirnama (now dispersed), attributed to Abul Hasan and Manohar (1620), is an excellent painting that showcases the court of Jahangir with intricate details of the emperor and his courtiers. Jahangir's Dream (1618–22) by Abul Hasan, given the title Nadir al Zaman, meaning the 'Wonder of the Age', refers to the emperor's dream in which he was visited by Persian Safavid emperor Shah Abbas, his rival. In the painting, Jahangir enthroned on an Hourglass (1625), symbolism is creatively applied by the court painter, Bichitra.

Mughal Painting during Jahangir and Shah Jahan’s Reign

• The Mughal School of Painting was one of the most prominent art forms during Jahangir and Shah Jahan's reign. Jahangir's love for the mystical world is depicted in Jahangir's Dream, Abul Hasan, 1618-1622, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D. C. and the use of intricate calligraphy. During Shah Jahan's reign, the Mughal art attained its pinnacle, and the artists created stunning works that were a blend of imagination and documentation. The paintings produced during this time focused on subliminal qualities, idealization, and stylization rather than naturalistic rendering and accurate depiction. The Padshahnama (The Chronicles of the King) is one of the most exuberant painting projects undertaken by Shah Jahan's court atelier.
• The Mughal paintings during this time depicted multiple perspectives, enchanting palate of colors, and sophisticated compositions to portray royal, historical, and mystic subjects. Shah Jahan's love for monumental architecture, sparkling jewels and gems, and majestic subject choices informed the magnificent works produced. The Mughal School of Painting, which had embraced and presented the exuberating blend of the leading art traditions of its contemporary world, began to inspire the European artists of that time, as seen in Rembrandt's studies of several Indian drawings.

Succession and Mughal Art under Aurangzeb

• Aurangzeb's succession to the throne was marked by a series of battles and conquests in Deccan India. His focus was on expanding the Mughal Empire and unifying it under his leadership. However, unlike popular belief, the royal atelier was not shut down immediately and continued to produce beautiful paintings.
• Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan's son, was denied his empire and life despite being a liberal and unorthodox Mughal. His commitment to Sufi mysticism and interest in Vedantic school of thought was outstanding. Dara commissioned a special album of paintings to gift his wife and was a poet and connoisseur. Unfortunately, his passion for literature and philosophy was misinterpreted as submissive, and his personality was deemed inadequate for political administration.

Mughal Painting and its Decline

• Mughal painting was a distinctive art form that flourished during the Mughal period in India. However, due to the gradual decline of ardent patronage and the changing political environment, the Mughal miniature style eventually converged into other styles of the Provincial and Company School.
• During the early Mughal phase, the paintings that we see as Mughal miniatures were parts of manuscripts and royal albums, where the visual and text shared space in a given format. The process of making book painting involved preparing sheets of handmade paper, leaving designated space for the artist to fill it with a suitable visual composition, ruling and filling with text, and finally composing a synoptic visual representation of the text.
• The painters in the atelier were also masters of art making colours, and the colours were obtained from natural sources by grinding and mixing pigments to obtain perfect shades of colours. The artworks produced during the early Mughal phase were collaborative efforts of a team of artists, and once the painting was complete, agate was used to burnish the work to set the colours and give desired radiance to the painting.
• Despite the decline of patronage, some masterworks were produced during the periods of Muhammad Shah Rangila, Shah Alam II and Bhadur Shah Zafar. Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal ruler, who was also a poet, scholar, and connoisseur. His painting, dated 1838, was made about two decades before he was exiled to Burma by the British.

NOAH’S ARK

An example of a beautiful Mughal painting is the Noah's Ark painting, from a dispersed Divan-i Hafiz painted manuscript of 1590. This painting lies in the collection of Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D. C., USA. It depicts Prophet Noah in the ark, carrying animals in pairs so that they may continue to flourish after the threatening flood sent by God to punish human beings for their sins. The use of pure white and subtle shades of red, blue, and yellow in this painting is charming, and the rendering of water is convincing.

Krishna Lifts Mount Govardhan

The painting "Krishna Lifts Mount Govardhan" is attributed to Miskin and is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection in New York, USA. The painting depicts a scene from the Harivamsa Purana, a Sanskrit manuscript that was translated into Persian by the Mughals. Badauni, a scholar noble in Akbar's court, was tasked with translating this volume on Lord Krishna into Persian. Interestingly, Badauni was known for his orthodox religious views, unlike Abul Fazl, another famous scholar chronicler in Akbar's court. The painting portrays the scene where Lord Krishna lifted the mountain, Govardhan, with the intention of protecting his followers, the villagers, and their livestock, from torrential rain sent by the powerful God Indra. Using the mountain as a huge umbrella, Hari shelters the entire village from the rain.

Falcon on a Bird Rest

The painting "Falcon on a Bird Rest" is by Ustad Mansur, Nadir ul Asr, and is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection in Ohio, USA. Jahangir, a keen connoisseur, had fine falcons brought to his collection and had them painted, including the falcon brought as a present from the Persian emperor Shah Abbas, which was mauled by a cat resulting in its death. The Emperor desired his painters to paint the dead falcon, preserving its memory for posterity. The painting depicts the falcon perched on a bird rest, and it is one of many paintings by Ustad Mansur, a Mughal artist.

Zebra

The painting of the Zebra was created by Nadir ul asr Ustad Mansur and was presented to Mughal Emperor Jahangir by his nobleman Mir Ja’far, who had acquired it. The zebra was from Ethiopia, brought by Turks, and in Jahangirnama, it is stated that the animal was presented to him during Nowruz or New Year festivities in March 1621. Jahangir carefully examined it as some thought it was a horse on which someone had painted stripes. Jahangir decided to send it to Shah Abbas of Iran, with whom he often exchanged rare and unique gifts, including animals and birds. The painting later came into Emperor Shah Jahan's possession and was added to the royal album of paintings and calligraphies. The ornate borders of the painting were additions made in Shah Jahan's reign.

The Marriage Procession of Dara Shikoh

The painting of "The Marriage Procession of Dara Shikoh" is by artist Haji Madni and belongs to the period of Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal in Agra. It depicts the marriage procession of Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The painting portrays the Mughal prince mounted on a brown stallion with the traditional sehra and is accompanied by his father, Shah Jahan, who has a resplendent nimbus around his head, riding a white horse. The procession is received by music, dance, gifts, and fireworks, and the artist has captured the glamour of the event with all its pomp and show. The painting is part of the collection of the National Museum in New Delhi, India.