Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c14.30

c14.30

With this revival of learning under the rising power of the Mughal rule in Hindustan came also a revival of the fine arts. Already much had been done to stimulate all forms of craftsmanship by the building of Fathpur Sikri on a magnificent scale. Architects and builders, carvers and decorators, had been brought together from every part of the empire to contribute their skill to the great undertaking, so that the artistic crafts of India began to flourish as they had not done for centuries. And among the arts called in to assist in making Akbar’s palaces the most beautiful of their age was that of mural decoration. As soon as the masons’ work was finished, expert painters were called in to design and execute pictures on the interior walls of many of the palace-halls and living-rooms. Remains of these are still visible, and, although much obliterated, they serve to show without any doubt the style of work that was in favour at this period. None of this decoration is fresco, or even tempera, as was usually the method of the Indian craftsman, but the sandstone surface of the wall was primed with a coat of white pigment, upon which the colours of the picture were directly applied. In much of its character this work resembles the picture illustrated on Plate XI. Some of the scenes are wholly Persian, and might have been painted by an artist of the Safavid school, then flourishing at the neighbouring court of Shah Tahmasp. This especially applies to a Persian swain, nearly life-size, playing on a flute in the palace of Raja Birbal, a picture unfortunately too damaged for reproduction. The backgrounds of many of the subjects, containing much fanciful architecture, are also from the same source. On the other hand no small amount of the painting, as far as can be judged from the fragments preserved, is characteristically Indian, and was clearly the work of Hindu mural decorators employed for this purpose. Altogether these remains, although now almost effaced, are of great value in determining the state of the art of painting in the year 1575, which may be accepted as approximately the date when they were executed. They show that in all probability Persian and Indian artists were employed in decorating the walls of Fathpur Sikri, but that each class of workmen practised their craft more or less independently. Occasionally they borrowed elements from one another, but as a whole the two arts were working on parallel lines, and had not yet begun to show any real signs of amalgamation.