A History of Agriculture in India v2.c73.s5: Birth of the Mughal Paintings

v2.c73.s5.1

At Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar collected architects, writers, poets, musicians, philosophers, painters and calligraphers. As Laurence Binyon remarks, ‘Fatehpur Sikri rivalled or surpassed Herat in the time of Baisunqur and the feverish intellectual and creative activity of the cities of Italy in the heyday of the Renaissance....As the barren ledges of rock had been transformed into palaces and gardens with stretches of shining water, and as the flowers had been sown in the gardens, and trees planted in the alleys, so artists had been collected from all quarters and settled in the palaces and workshops, and bidden to flourish and create.’ Never before in the history of India did men of talent receive such encouragement. It was thus that Mughal painting, which represents the synthesis of Persian and Indian art forms, was created under the patronage of Akbar.