Make an estimate of the development of paintings under Mughal reference to colours, technique, themes and influences on them.

Answer:

Mughal painting developed from the mid-sixteenth century into one of the finest schools of miniature art in the world. It evolved steadily in its themes, technique and palette through the discerning patronage of successive emperors, and drew its distinctive character from a creative fusion of Persian, Indian and European traditions.

Origins and influences

• Founded by Humayun, who brought the Persian masters Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad to his court.
• It fused the Persian tradition of fine line and delicate design with Indian colour, naturalism and vitality.
• European prints and paintings, introduced by the Jesuit missions, later added perspective and subtle shading.
• The result was a synthetic style quite unlike any single parent tradition.

Development under the emperors

• Under Akbar, the atelier illustrated great manuscripts like the Hamzanama, Akbarnama and Razmnama, prizing action and narrative.
• Under Jahangir, a true connoisseur, painting reached its zenith in refined portraiture and natural-history studies of birds, animals and flowers.
• Under Shah Jahan the work grew more formal, jewel-like and decorative.
• Under Aurangzeb the withdrawal of court patronage drove artists out to the regional and Rajput courts.

Colours and technique

• Artists used brilliant mineral and vegetable pigments, lapis, malachite and gold, on burnished paper.
• Squirrel-hair brushes allowed the hallmark fine line and minute detail.
• Compositions were built up in layers, with the finished surface burnished to a glow.
• European influence brought modelling, perspective and the halo (nimbus) around royal figures.

Themes and artists

• Themes moved from epic and court narrative to portraits, durbar scenes, hunts and nature studies.
• Album (muraqqa) painting and border decoration became refined arts in themselves.
• Artists such as Daswanth, Basawan, Abul Hasan, Mansur and Bishandas were named and honoured.
• Mansur's studies of birds and flowers for Jahangir are masterpieces of natural observation.
• Both Hindu and Muslim artists worked together in the imperial atelier.

Mughal painting thus evolved into a mature and synthetic art of remarkable technical finesse, blending Persian, Indian and European elements. Reaching its peak of naturalism under Jahangir, it remains, as art historians affirm, one of the supreme expressions of the composite Mughal culture.