Indian Painting Dr. O. P. Parameswaran, Assistant Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Post Graduate Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Chandigarh.
'Illustrations of Animal and Birds' Jahangir( ), Mughal
The Evolution of Mughal miniature Painting which roughly spanned three centuries, marked a colourful phase in Indian cultural list. The Mughal painting, apart from different court scenes and portraits also provide excellent pictures of birds and animals.
The paintings produced at the time of Akbar and Jahangir give numerous examples of figures of animals and birds in different actions with a strong sympathy towards naturalistic kind of representation. Pictures of elephants and horses in different poses are very common in the Mughal period.
The innate desire of the Mughal emperors to get recorded the different incidents related to their lives enable the artists to accompany them even to different hunting places: Figures of deer, lion, tiger etc. are frequently appeared when they depicted different hunting scenes.
The Mughal art evolved through a mixture of Persian as well as Indian style in its execution. Eventually the Mughal artist also came in contact with the European art. The European style of naturalistic representation was assimilated and used positively by the Mughal artists.
The Anwar i- Suhayli produced by the Mugal school showsexamples of animals and birds. The figures of animals are treated more naturalistically and they show more self possessed than the remote and exquisite animals of the Persian school.
They are more deeply engaged in action and within the terms of the system as much realism is given to the architecture and figure drawing by shading and modelling as possible. In the Anwar i- Suhayli there is movement, not violent but natural and vital.
The monkeys cry and chatter; they are not the idealized creatures of Persian miniatures, living only within the context of the romantic fable. Even among the animals the actualism of the Mughal school is already apparent by 1570.
Showing a similar sympathy with animals and birds, but more in Indian in feeling and in the figure drawing are the one hundred and three illustrations to the romance of the parrot, the Tuti- Nama in the Chester Beatty Library.
The greatest among all paintings related to animals and birds are done at the time of Jahangir. These were all done out of the emperor's great love of nature and other species. His painters used to accompany him on his outing and often the emperor asked them to paint the lovely blossoms, plants birds and animals he noticed.
These masterpieces show much fresher inspiration than the countless court scenes and constitute the highest achievement in the paintings of his rein. They illustrate the emperor's charming memories, known as Tazuk-i-Jahangiri, which record many episodes from his daily life. Unfortunately very few examples of this series remain. With the utmost care and detail the painters depicted whatever caught the ruler's fancy.
The Turkey Cock for instance, shows the majestic bird in glowing colours, feathers ruffled and flap hanging down. The pale background enhances this effect. Exquisite decorative bands frame the pictures. Other outstanding examples are the Chameleon and Zebra by Mansur.
Squirrels on a Chennar Tree- a masterpiece approaching pure landscape, attributes to Abul- Hassan Nadir- al- Zaman, a painter whom the emperor esteemed very highly. The gold back ground, the orange-coloured leaves on the tree, and the deer strongly recall the Persian style but the squirrels, scrambling up for safety as well as the frightened birds show a characteristically Indian perceptiveness and sympathy for the nature
Another master piece in the above mentioned category is the bullock cart by Abul Hasan. This un-mistakably Persian subject was painted for Jajangir when he was still a prince. Manipulation of superfine stippling to emphasize the plasticity of animal figures and other aspects of the composition make this painting an excellent art work.