Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c14.37.3

c14.37.3

But the most practical part of Akbar’s scheme, and one which shows the thoroughness of his nature, relates to the improvement of the materials used in this form of painting, what may be termed the technical section. Information with regard to this is derived from the statement that ‘much progress was made in the commodities required by painters, and the correct prices of such articles were carefully ascertained. The mixture of colours has especially been improved.’ The need for such a section is at once apparent. The school was a new departure, its intention being to practise a different form of expression from that previously carried on in the country. No longer were artists to paint large scenes on the surface of walls in coarse *tempera* colours, which could be readily repainted when injured by the climate or the passage of time. Instead they were required to adapt this art to small pictures on paper, carefully and minutely drawn and coloured, which were to be a lasting record of each painter's individual skill. Special kinds of paper and pigments were therefore needed, brushes of a suitable fineness to be prepared, and all the delicate mediums and adhesives obtained, which this decisive change of technique necessitated. Many of these commodities were little known in India, as for instance paper, which had only just begun to be used.