A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s3.18

c20.s3.18

The changes in style from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century are well marked. The early book illustrations of Akbar’s reign dealing with subjects similar to those usually treated in Persia are simply imitations of Persian work, and by no means equal to the models. Mr. Havell, a critic inclined to be indulgent to all Indian productions, while admiring the delicate execution of the pictures in the Clarke MS. of the *Akbarnāmah*, is constrained to admit that ‘in most of them, not excluding those with Basāwan’s signature, the colouring is heavy, sometimes even crude, the action of the figures is generally stiff and unnatural, and the composition without any distinction of style’. I am not disposed to dispute the correctness of that judgement. But the same artists when they proceeded to deal with Hindu legends or romantic subjects, under less constraint from the obligation to follow Persian precedent, used their powers with greater freedom and more originality. During Jahāngīr’s reign much of the stiffness disappeared, and the crudity of colouring began to be softened, but critics are generally agreed that the best work falls within the limits of the reign of Shahjahān (1627-58). In later times the old rigidity of drawing and crudity of colour reappeared.