Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c19.17

Language: English

c19.17.1

The attractions of this picture lie not in the general effect, which is somewhat confusing, but in the treatment of some of the groups, and particularly in the portraits of one or two of the individuals. As in the previous miniature, it is the spirit of vitality which is its main charm, and not a little of this is brought about by the natural and spontaneous action of the figures. What could be more expressive of energy than the mounted trumpeter with the red turban at the top of the picture, putting his whole soul into his performance, as if he felt that the eyes of the emperor were specially directed on him. Compare his vigorous pose with the stately step of the sword and banner bearers, or the scarcely suppressed excitement among the musicians in their effort to keep time among themselves and with the rest of the procession. But for an example of Mughal figure-painting at its best the trumpeter riding on the horse immediately below the elephant may be selected. A slightly enlarged reproduction of this figure is illustrated on Plate XLI, Fig. 2, and will show how the Indian painter could rise almost to the heights attained by Holbein in some of his character studies. The drawing, modelling, and expression of the face are exceptionally well rendered, while the colouring is equally meritorious.

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In the other two mounted musicians the artist has not been quite so successful in his portraiture, but that he has caught the sense of action, as shown for instance in the feeling of movement in the fingers of the instrumentalists, cannot be denied. In many other portions of this picture the same conscientious attention to detail is displayed, although as a whole the composition is not exactly arresting. Both groups of figures walking out of, or looking out of, each side of the picture may account for some of this, but it is most probably explained by the artist having quite ingenuously put on his paper the ceremony just as he saw it. Nevertheless, in the more formal subjects of his selection the Mughal artist had an eye to composition, which may be noticed in his interior effects, as for instance in his arrangement of court scenes. He fully realized the value of an architectural feature as the basis of his design, and made use of it in the following manner. Beginning with the emperor on his throne more or less in the centre, he placed a series of buildings in retreating planes in the background, which he balanced with a corresponding succession of terraces and platforms in the foreground. The right-angled lines predominating in such an arrangement harmonized with the right angles of his picture as a whole, and, while such a method is well known among designers as a simple device, it was, in the hands of the Mughal painter, also the most pleasing.

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After the artist had introduced into his picture the main constructional lines indicated above, it was not difficult to group about these the figures which formed the living element in the subject. One type of architectural setting, frequently observed in the earlier pictures, shows a palace in which both the exterior and interior are visible at the same time, a kind of isometric projection, the spectator being elevated so that he looks over the retaining wall into the courtyard with the emperor seated in a pavilion in the centre. Outside this wall are the servants and attendants, while always in the foreground in one corner is a doorway with a bearded doorkeeper on guard. An example of this conventional scheme may be studied on Plate XI; it is, however, a traditional composition, inherited from the Persian master Bihzad, and employed by him in several of his pictures. In these architectural compositions, exception may be taken to their excessive formality, but in all art the Mughal specially admired symmetry even of the most severe order; in his buildings, in his gardens, and, as we see, in his pictures, every element was balanced by another element which constituted its *jawāb*, or ‘answer’, and to bring about this balance was the artist’s principal aim.