Origin and development

The essentials

The Mughal school began with Humayun. During his exile he stayed at the Safavid court of Persia, and when he regained power he brought two Persian master painters, Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad, to India. They trained Indian artists and laid the foundation of the imperial atelier.

Under Akbar the atelier grew large. Persian masters supervised many Indian artists drawn from different regions. The resulting style mixed Persian elegance, fine line and decorative detail with Indian energy, warm colours and lively movement. Later, European prints and paintings brought to the court by Jesuit missionaries introduced ideas such as shading, modelling and distant perspective.

Key points

• Persian roots: flat bright colours, decorative patterns, high viewpoint, calligraphy.
• Indian contribution: vigour, natural movement, local costumes, plants and animals, dramatic storytelling.
• European influence: modelling with light and shade, aerial perspective, halos around royal heads.
• Teamwork: an artist made the outline drawing (tarh), another filled in colour (rang-amezi), and specialists painted portraits.
• Paintings were made on paper, in opaque watercolour, with fine brushes, and often burnished.
• Paintings were often mounted in albums (muraqqa) with decorated borders and calligraphy.

Exam tips

• Humayun = beginning; Akbar = organised large atelier; Jahangir = peak of naturalism.
• Remember the two Persian masters by name.

Common mistakes

• Saying Babur founded the painting atelier; the foundation is credited to Humayun's Persian masters and Akbar's patronage.
• Ignoring the Indian contribution; most Mughal artists were Indian.