Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c20.58

c20.58

Mughal painting was essentially a masculine art, confining itself almost entirely to the lives of men, and paying little attention to the doings of the fair sex. The social and domestic customs of the people were of course largely responsible for the omission, as the women of the country lived almost entirely ‘behind the veil’. Portraits of women, therefore, are not common, although a number, purporting to be likenesses of eminent persons, are to be found in most collections. Nevertheless it is doubtful whether they are authentic pictures of those whose names they bear, but are most probably portraits evolved from the artist's imagination. On this point Manucci, who lived for years in Hindustan during the reign of Aurangzeb, writes emphatically: ‘I do not bring forward any portraits of queens or princesses, for it is impossible to see them, thanks to their being always concealed. If any one has produced such portraits, they should not be accepted, being only likenesses of concubines and dancing girls, &c., which have been drawn according to the artist's fancy.’ The few portraits of Indian queens and princesses which have come down to us certainly seem to support the Italian's dictum: they show, as a rule, no great merit, and none of that character which the Mughal artist put into the features of his men. It is very unlikely that any painter was permitted into the presence of the ladies of the royal family, even for the purpose of taking their likenesses, and no reliable portraiture could have been obtained in any other way. It is true that occasionally the Mughal queens were allowed considerable liberty, or it is possible that an unusually strong personality, as for instance Jahangir's consort Nur-Jahan, may have demanded it, and so appeared in public. The ‘Light of the World’, for such is a literal translation of her name, was no delicate hot-house plant, but very much a woman of the world, taking her full share of the joys and sorrows of her husband’s public life, as the records of the time bear testimony. The seclusion of the *zenana* may have been the custom, but the frequent occasions on which the spirited lady threw off her veil in order to experience the delights of the chase are recorded with obvious pride by Jahangir in his memoirs.