Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c20.61

Language: English

c20.61.1

A study of a large number of Mughal portraits shows that these resolve themselves into two definite methods of representation, one in which the features are depicted in rigid profile, and the other in which they are drawn in what is known as the three-quarter face. It would be consistent with the growth of the art if the former were the earlier, and the latter the later products of the portrait painter’s brush. The facts, however, serve rather to indicate that the reverse was the case, for the two styles emerge at the same time, progress side by side, and in the end the rigid profile ousts the three-quarter view and becomes the accepted method of depicting the features in all the later portraiture. An example of the two styles will be seen on Plate LXI, Fig. 1, presenting the conventional profile, while Fig. 2 shows the more natural three-quarter view. A probable explanation of the parallel course of the two methods is that the one was the result of the Persian, and the other of the Indian tradition. In the works of the Persian schools a figure with an exact side-face was rarely depicted; it was the artist’s practice, even in the most abstract or conventional representations of the human form, to draw the features in a three-quarter position. On the other hand it is unusual to see in any collection of indigenous Indian pictures, as for instance in the Rājput style, the face drawn from any other point of view except that of exact profile.

c20.61.2

Taking the Mughal art as a whole, it will be found that features drawn from the three-quarter view are rarer than those in profile, and are more often seen in those figures forming part of a large group in a picture, than in portraits of single individuals. As the art progressed the three-quarter face, although it is occasionally seen in the portraiture of Shah Jahan’s reign, gradually became obsolete, and eventually was superseded almost entirely by the rigid profile. The Mughal method of depicting the sitter exactly from the side was not confined only to the head and features but also to the feet. As a contrast to this, however, the shoulders and body were represented at an angle and with a certain effect of foreshortening. The whole idea was a conventional one, controlled by certain traditions and customs, and dependent very largely on the changing fashions of the time. In the hands of any but a naturally gifted artist, a portrait produced on such terms would tend to be stiff and lifeless, lacking in interest and conviction. As would be expected, the result at its best is a decorative production. By sheer artistry, however, the painter has not only redeemed it from what might have been an archaic commonplace, but has presented us with a work of art of great merit. A good Mughal portrait, in spite of its limitations of scale, undoubtedly possesses considerable character and charm.

c20.61.3

In the first place it rarely fails to carry conviction in its drawing, and to give the impression of being a truthful likeness. To make sure of this the artist went about his work in a very thorough manner. He made small ‘thumb nail’ sketches of his sitter in black and white, either while this person sat before him, or as he went about his duties. Abu’l Fazl states distinctly that Akbar sat for his likeness, and the pictures themselves bear evidence of having been drawn from life, not ‘visualized’, as some have maintained. It seems not improbable that the court artist did his work in a manner similar to the scribe who is depicted taking his notes, at the bottom of the picture reproduced in the frontispiece, except that the one used the reed pen and the other the squirrel-hair brush. The court painter would be present on such occasions with his sketchbook to record the portraits of all and sundry who were at the durbar. His sketches for portraiture usually show the head only finished, the shape and position of the body being indicated by a few suggestive lines. Many of these preliminary studies have come down to us, and a few of them are illustrated on Plate LXV. In no sense are they rough or careless impressions, done on the chance of catching the likeness, but in all cases they are careful studies, accurate and detailed in every respect, and forming perfect working drawings from which the finished miniatures were painted.