Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c22.2

c22.2

To understand the methods by which the Indian painter produced his miniatures, it may be useful as a beginning to inquire into the manner in which he was first taught the rudiments of his craft—in other words, to view his course of training as an art student. After having seen him engaged in acquiring this preliminary part of his knowledge, we may then follow him through all the various stages of his work of painting a picture, noting the particular materials he uses and the different processes he adopts to secure his results. In this way the technical portion of his craft may become clear. We are fortunate in being able to describe in detail the traditional forms employed by the Mughal artists in instructing the aspiring student of art, as most of these have been preserved by their descendants. Painting was taught in the same way as wood-carving, sculpture, and metal-work, and all the other Indian art industries, by a modified application of the apprenticeship system. The craftsman passed his knowledge of the art on to his sons, or, failing these, the sons of a near relative, but rarely to any one who was not a member, however distant, of his own family. Under the Mughal rule when Akbar founded his school of painting such a method of course received little encouragement, and the caste or family system was for the time in abeyance. Instruction in art among the Indians began at an early age, almost as soon as the child could walk he was given a corner in the workshop where he could play with the implements and materials of his craft, and become accustomed to their shapes and uses. The care of tools and the preparation of his materials were his first lessons, and these were no meaningless exercises, for the sculptor employed his apprentices, however young, in sharpening his chisels and dressing his stones, while the painter utilized them in remaking his squirrel-hair brushes, burnishing his paper, or grinding his colours. When not thus engaged the student was expected to fill in time by copying out a graded series of patterns specially designed for his instruction. These patterns were, so to speak, the alphabet of his craft; and no student’s education was complete until he had acquired a thorough proficiency in them. In this respect all arts were the same; each had its series of traditional patterns on which the learner based his skill. And he was trained to become so conversant with these that he did not, except in the first instance, copy them from an original, but their names only would be communicated to him, and he would carve or draw them correctly, just as a child learns to write the letters of the alphabet by name and not from a copy or written example. For instance, the young wood-carver, after a little preliminary practice, would be expected to execute a specimen of the *kingrī* or *madākhal*, the two initial patterns of his series, from memory, without any reference to the original. Other graded patterns would follow in their proper sequence, and no apprentice would be allowed to attempt the more difficult exercises until he was quite proficient in the preceding ones. The same system prevailed in all the artistic trades, although of course the patterns in each differed according to the nature of the materials employed.