The Mughal School of Miniature Painting

Written and reviewed by Subhra Gupta, Humanities faculty at UniDrill (M.A. Sociology, University of Delhi · 7 years teaching Humanities). Based on NCERT Fine Arts Class XII (An Introduction to Indian Art Part II), Chapter 3.

Why do Mughal paintings look so lifelike?

Look at a Jain folio or an early Rajasthani painting and the figures are flat, outlined and brightly coloured. Now look at a Mughal portrait of a courtier or a falcon and the person seems to step out of the page. That difference is the heart of this chapter. The Mughal style developed in northern India in the sixteenth century and continued until the middle of the nineteenth. It was built by emperors who cared about painting and by artists who were brought together from Iran and from India in one workshop.

The big idea: a meeting of three traditions

The Mughal style blended indigenous themes and styles with Persian and, later, European ones. At its peak it was a sophisticated mix of Islamic, Hindu and European visual culture. This was possible because the royal workshop deliberately took in artists of both Indian and Iranian origin.

The Mughal style offered subtlety and finesse, almost three dimensional figures and an optical reality. Royal court scenes, portraits and accurate flora and fauna were favourite subjects. The style did not grow in a vacuum: it came from direct interaction with the earlier schools of India and Persia.

The workshop. The Mughal atelier had calligraphers, painters, gilders and binders. Paintings recorded significant events, people and interests of the emperors. They were meant for the royals alone, as part of manuscripts and albums.

Two views. For the exam: the Mughal style is a synthesis of indigenous, Persian and European elements. Another reading: its earliest works, made under Humayun, are described as wholly Persian in format, theme and palette, with no dominant Indian element. Indian features enter gradually and visibly under Akbar. So the question is not whether Mughal painting is Persian or Indian, but at which date each strand becomes strong.

Babur and Humayun: bringing a Persian workshop to India

Babur (from 1526) came from present day Uzbekistan and was a descendant of Timur and a Chaghatai Turk. His cultural background blended Persia and Central Asia. His autobiography, the Baburnama, records his career, his love of the Indian land and ecology, and his keen eye for portraits. He mentions the artist Bihzad, a master of the Persian school at Herat, noting that Bihzad drew bearded faces admirably. Babur also praised Shah Muzaffar as excelling in the drawing of hairstyles. He founded a tradition of keeping memoirs that his successors followed.

Humayun (from 1530) was dethroned by the Afghan Sher Khan (Sher Shah) and took refuge at the court of the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp of Persia. There he saw the splendid tradition of miniatures and manuscripts. With Shah Tahmasp's help he set up his court in Kabul in 1545, and when he regained power in India he brought master artists back with him. He invited two Persian artists, Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd us Samad, both famed for portraits, to set up a studio at his court.

He founded the Nigaar Khana, a painting workshop that was part of his library, and began the illustration of the Hamza Nama, which his son Akbar later continued.

Princes of the House of Timur (1545 to 1550) is a large painting, probably by Abd us Samad, in opaque watercolour on cotton. Portraits of later emperors, Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, were painted over the original faces so that the picture kept up with the dynasty. The format, theme, figures and palette are remarkably Persian, with open air trees and blossoms and royal merrymaking.

Akbar (1556 to 1605): the great workshop

Akbar's court historian Abul Fazl records that more than a hundred artists were employed in the royal atelier, including the most skilled Persian and Indian artists of the time. Their work set new standards in visual language and subject matter. Akbar laid great emphasis on illustrated manuscripts, and many translation and illustration projects were done under him.

Why the Hamza Nama is huge. It was a performance as well as a book. A professional narrator read the story aloud while the folio with its painting was held up for the emperor to see. The paintings therefore had to be read from a distance, so they were made large, with the space sharply cut and divided to read the story easily.

Pause and predict: why were the Hamza Nama paintings made so large compared with other Mughal manuscripts?

Check your answer: because the story was read aloud by a narrator while the folio was held up to be seen. Large size, cloth backing with the text on the paper behind, and sharply divided space all helped viewers follow the action from a distance.

Spies of Hamza Attack the City of Kaymar (1567 to 1582). The space is cut into sections so that each action reads clearly, and strong outer lines define the foliage. Faces are mostly in profile, with some three quarter views. Its details come from more than one tradition, as the next question shows.

Pause and predict: a Hamza Nama folio shows a patterned floor, columns and canopy, four limbed animals and rocks, and also trees, creepers and pure yellows, reds and browns. Which of these come from Persian sources and which from Indian ones?

Check your answer: the floor, column and canopy patterns, the four limbed animals and the rocks are Persian. The trees and creepers and the pure yellows, reds and browns are Indian. This split is the clearest example of the Indo-Persian blend in one picture.

Akbar's wider vision. Akbar commissioned translations of revered Sanskrit texts into Persian as part of a vision of cultural integration. The paintings under him covered conquests, court scenes, secular texts, portraits, Hindu mythology and Persian and Islamic themes. Mughal artists worked as a team, and drew on the surroundings for the flora and fauna in their pictures.

Madonna and Child (about 1580 to 1590). After Europeans came into contact with Akbar's court, painters began to prefer a more natural style. In this painting, associated with Basawan, the Virgin Mary is draped in a classical way and the affection between mother and child follows a humanist idea from Renaissance art. Details such as the fan, the jewellery and the child's physical form fit it into an Indian setting.

Jahangir (1605 to 1627): the age of naturalism

Prince Salim showed an interest in art from early on. Unlike Akbar, who ordered works on politically and religiously important subjects, Jahangir preferred delicate observation and fine detail. He employed the Iranian painter Aqa Riza and his son Abul Hasan. His memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, reveal his effort to render flora and fauna with scientific correctness, and under him Mughal painting reached a very high degree of naturalism.

The Mughal school thus became a melting pot of three styles: indigenous, Persian and European.

Jahangir gave Mansur the title Nadir ul Asr ("Wonder of the Age"). Jahangir examined the zebra himself, because some thought it was a horse painted with stripes.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: Jahangir's reign is the peak of naturalism. In reality: the animal paintings were a way of recording what the emperor's court had seen. When the zebra arrived, some people thought it was a horse with painted stripes, so Jahangir examined it closely and had it painted, and the picture settled the question by recording the animal as it really was.

Shah Jahan: idealisation and jewel-like colour

Prince Khurram became Shah Jahan (1628 to 1658) and inherited a stable empire and the finest artists. His atelier preferred idealisation and stylisation over naturalistic rendering. It produced works of exalted beauty, with jewel-like colours, perfect finish and intricate fine lines, reflecting his love of gems and monumental architecture. Imperial portraits with glorious titles presented the emperor's personality, and the pictures were built to carry many layers of meaning.

The Padshahnama ("Chronicles of the King") is one of his most exuberant projects and shows the height reached by Indian miniature painting. It displays multiple perspectives, an enchanting palette and sophisticated composition for royal, historical and mystic subjects.

The Marriage Procession of Dara Shikoh. By Haji Madni. Dara Shikoh rides a brown stallion wearing the traditional sehra, while Shah Jahan, with a radiant halo around his head, rides a white horse beside him. The procession is received with music, dance, gifts and fireworks, and the artist captures the pomp and glamour of the occasion.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: the Mughal school influenced European artists. In reality: the Dutch painter Rembrandt made drawings after Indian court paintings, studying the delicate lines. This is one of the best known examples of Mughal art travelling back to Europe.

Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb and the later Mughals

Dara Shikoh was Shah Jahan's eldest son and legitimate heir. He was known for his Sufi mysticism, his deep interest in Vedanta and his scholarship in several languages, including Sanskrit. He commissioned an album for his wife. In Dara Shikoh with Sages in a Garden he sits among scholars. In the war of succession he was defeated by his brother Aurangzeb.

Aurangzeb focused on expanding the empire and put less effort into raising the atelier, but, contrary to popular belief, the royal atelier was not shut down at once and continued to produce beautiful paintings.

Later Mughal painting. As royal patronage cooled, highly skilled artists moved to provincial rulers who copied Mughal royalty. Some masterworks were still produced in the reigns of Muhammad Shah Rangila, Shah Alam II and Bahadur Shah Zafar, but they were the last flickers of the style. A painting of Bahadur Shah Zafar (1838) was made about two decades before he was exiled to Burma by the British after the failure of the Revolt of 1857. He was the last Mughal ruler and a poet, scholar and connoisseur. In the changed political climate, with regional kingdoms unsettled and English power growing, the Mughal style merged into the Provincial and Company Schools.

How a Mughal painting was made

Colours were opaque and made from natural sources by grinding and mixing pigments. Brushes were made from the hair of squirrels or kittens. Basic drawing, grinding colours, filling and adding details were shared among a team, though a painting could also be done by one hand. Artists were given incentives and salary increases according to the work they did.

Timeline: from Babur to Bahadur Shah Zafar

Key artists and terms

Exam traps

60-second revision

Where this chapter connects

• Before: The Manuscript Painting Tradition shows the Persian influence that arrived through the Sultanate courts.
• Alongside: The Rajasthani Schools of Painting and The Deccani Schools of Painting developed their own courts while meeting Mughal taste.
• After: The Pahari Schools of Painting and The Bengal School and Cultural Nationalism follow the movement of artists after the Mughal court declined.