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Mughal

Paintings

DIFFERENCES FROM PERSIAN


Mughal painting
is a
MINIATURE
style of Indian painting
which emergedPAINTING
from
Persian miniature.
It began in the courts of
the Mughal Empire
(16th - 19th centuries),
and later spread to
other Indian courts,
both Muslim and Hindu,
and later Sikh.

Differences from Persian Miniature


Painting

Extended
sense of
space.
Realistic style.
Agitated
action rarely
seen in
Persian art.

Features
Exquisitely detailed and
finely drawn.
Lively and realistic.
Elements of portraiture.
Muted, more pastel,
representing the nature,
and earth tones dominated
the mood of the paintings.
Beautiful Calligraphy.
Magnificent ornaments
created elegant borders.
Historical painting.
High viewpoint and 3
dimensional nature.
Book illustrations or as
single works to be kept in
albums.

Jahangir and
Nurjahan

JOURNEY OF MUGHAL
ART

Origin
Humayun became enamoured
by the art of miniature
painting in Persia.
He brought back two persian
masters, Mir Sayyid Ali and
Abdus Samad.
They became the founders of
the new
Mughal school of Indian painting.

Humayan's major known


commission was a Khamsa of
Nizami with 36 illuminated
pages.

Akbar

Between 1562 and 1577 the


atelier worked on an
illustrated
manuscript of the Hamzanama
consisting of 1,400 canvas folios.

European influence.
Cultural synthesis can be
traced from its flat
decorative beginnings
through a blending with a
lively Rajasthani and finally
to its move towards
realism.
Illustration of manuscripts
with themes from Persian
literature, Indian epics,
court scenes, animal fables
and battles.
Mughal style during this
period continued to refine
itself with elements of

Alexander lowered into the


sea
from the khamsa of amir

Jahangir
Under Jahangir,
Akbar's lively
naturalism was
advanced into a
calmer and
strongly realistic
approach.
Brushwork became
finer and the colors
lighter.
European influence.
Encouraged his royal

atelier to take up the


single
point perspective
favoured
by European artists,
unlike
the flattened multi-

Squirrels in a chenar tree by Mansur

layered
style used in traditional

Jahangir seated on a
allegorical throne by Bichitr

Jahangir and
Nurjahan

Shah
Paintings gradually became
Jahan
cold and rigid.
Themes including musical
parties; lovers, sometimes in
intimate positions, on
terraces and gardens; and
ascetics gathered around a
fire, abound in the Mughal
paintings of this period.
well-embellished portraits
with exact likeness of the
portrayed figures.
Portrait of Shah jahan

Revival under Muhammad


In sections of former empire such
Murshidabad inShah
Bengal and
Lucknow in Oudh, a shadow of the
former imperial style was kept alive
and subjects a hundred or more
years old were copied as if to
recapture the heroic grandeurs of
the past.

The marriage procession of Dara Shikoh

Jain
Painting

Jain monks and scholars of medieval India


wrote thousands of manuscripts related to their
religious literature. These manuscripts contain
some beautiful miniature paintings
The earliest known miniature paintings are from
11th
Century

Jain
Painting

One of the earliest art


forms

Used palm-leaves for their


inscriptions with decorative and
flat style
Early palette restricted to
simple
reds,yellows,blue,brown etc
Although that changed with the
introduction of paper.

Jain Paintin
The significant feature
is the stylish figure of
g
the women in the
paintings.
Used strong colors and
liked to show enlarged
eyes of the persons in
the paintings.
The artist also liked to
decorate the persons
with ornaments.
Miniature Painting from Kalakacharya
Katha

Jain Painting

Jain miniature paintings are


found mainly in old
Rajasthani, Gujarati, Hindi,
Marathi and Kannada
manuscripts.
The colors were made especially

from vegetables, minerals and


even
from gold and silver.
Miniature Painting from Chandana
This art of miniature painting
Malayaqiri Varta

began
to decline after 16th century.

Jain

Lesya(Mental Attitude
Painting)

Painting

Lesya is a Jain concept of mental


attitude, where different persons
think and behave differently for
getting same thing.
In this beautiful multicolored
miniature painting from a Jain
manuscript, we see that the 6
persons want to get fruits

Rajasthani (Rajput)
Most of the time
depicted events of
Epic, beautiful
landscapes and
humans.

Radha and Krishna was


probably the favourite
theme in Rajput paintings

Rajasthani (Rajput)
The preparation of desired
colors
was
a
lengthy
process, sometimes taking
weeks.
The colors were
extracted from certain
minerals, plant sources,
conch shells, and were
even derived by
processing precious
stones.

Rajasthani

While Mughal
art is realistic,
Paintings
Rajasthani is
symbolic and filled
with poetic
metaphor

All men are


symbols, all nature
is symbolic

Women are symbolic


of all
feminity
Artists ultimate desire
was
to clarify mans
relationship

Rajasthan Painting
Ragamala means garland
iof melody ors mode

Poems dealing with


musical sentiments are
illustrated by
representations of specific
human situations

The Ragamala series were


prized for their narrative as
well as the visual effect of
their use of rich, vibrant
colours

Vasant Ragini, Kota,


Rajasthan

Rajasthani
Different colours
Painting
were given different
meanings
Red connoted fury

Yellow showed the


marvellous
Brown signified erotic
Colours were also used to
represent specific musical
notes

PAHAR
I

The

Miniat

The exact origin of miniature painting style practised at the Hindu Courts in

Origin:
Himalyan

Foothills
remain
unknown.
Frist known
examples
were in the states of Basohli, Kahlur and Mankot , painted in

1650.
The invasion of India and the sack of Delhi in 1739 provided the catalyst for

ure

refinement

Paintin

of
Art. Hindu courts welcomed the displaced Mughal artists. The Hill
ThePahari
Rajasthani
elements of

gs

realism
andtoMughal
Craftmanship
from The Muhammad Shahi revival
significantly
the evolving
Pahari
contributed
aesthetics

Pahari,
Krishna
Arriving at
Radha Radhas
s House
Rasamanjar
House,of
Bhanudatta
Rasamanjari
of
Bhanudatta
1660-70

Key eatures 1660-70


Key
Flatfeatures
red

and
background
Flat red
background
an ornate and
anpavillion
ornate pavillion
Rich
colour
Rich
colour
scheme
scheme
Gargoyle-like
Gargoyle-like
ornament
ornament
on the base of

Basohli

Pahari,
Raja
Raja
Shamsher
Shamsher
Sen

Sen

with his
with
son
his son
Surma

Surma
Sen,
Sen
Mandi
Mandi ,1775
,

Key features

1775

Key
The
plain, vivid
eatures
powderThe plain, vivid
blue
powderbackground and
the
blue background and

Mandi

Pahari,
The arrest of
Guler
Spies,
Spies Seige of
Lanka,Ramayana
Pahari guler 1725
Key features
eatures

The series
The
illustrates
series the
ustrates the ac tivit es
acitivities

of Rama and
of his
Rama
allies
and
before
his al
es before
climactic battle of Lanka
climactic battle of
On the reverse, they were
Lanka
inscribed
On the reverse they

with text of the great epic


were nscribed
poem.
with text of the
great epic poem.

Pahari,

Lady with a
Hawk Guler

Guler,175
0
Key features:
features

Set after twenty-five


twenty five years of
o
Siege of

Lanka,
Lanka,
thethe
Mughal
Mughal
Influence
Influence
hashas
set
set itself
itself
intointo
thethe
mainstream
mainstream
style
style

The subtle tones and shading

Pahari,
Raja
Balwant
Singh of
Jammu
smoking
alone on a
Palace roof
in the rains
(JulyAugust
1751)

By the master

Jammu

Pahari,
Radha
and
Krishna in
the Grove
(1780)

From the atelier of


Raja
Sansar

Kangra
Introduction of love and
romance in art

The Kangra Style


generally have a central
elegant female form
expresses an innocent
and open sensuality
features traditionally
symbolic elements (dark
clouds, rain, swing in this
work)

The Swing
(1790)

Pahari,
The Road to
Krishna (1780)

Garhwal
Considerably influenced by
Kangra

Illustrating
an episode
from
Bhagavata
Purana

Termination
of
Miniature Art
Demise of Rajput Art

Domination of India by
British

Centres

Making stiff, hollow copies


of
the
Misunderstood
past
interpretation
s of Western
Introduction
of
art
Company
Paintings

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