Indian Paintings
Part 2
Miniature Paintings
- Miniature paintings are characterised with small and detailed paintings.
- Human forms are most commonly seen from the side, with large eyes, a narrow waist, a sharp nose, and so on.
- The full flowering of miniature painting began when India came into direct contact with the Islamic Civilisations.
Pala School
- The earliest examples of miniature painting in India exist in the form of illustrations to the religious texts on Buddhism executed under the Palas of the eastern India and the Jain texts executed in western India during the 11th-12th centuries A.D.
- A large number of manuscripts on palm-leaf relating to the Buddhist themes were written and illustrated with the images of Buddhist deities at centres such as- Nalanda, Odantapuri, Vikramsila and Somarupa
- Lonely single figures were commonly found and we can rarely find group figures in this school.
- These paintings were also used and patronised by followers of the Vajrayana school of Buddhism.
- Pala painting shows a naturalistic style and is characterised by sinuous lines and subdued tones of colour.
- The Pala art came to a sudden end after the destruction of the Buddhist monasteries at the hands of Muslim invaders in the first half of the 13th century.
Mughal Paintings
- The Mughal paintings combined Safavid school of Persian art and Indian art.
- They concentrated their efforts on scenes of hunting, historical events, and other court-related matters.
- In the beginning of Akbar’s rule a studio of painting was established under the supervision of two Persian masters, Mir Sayyed Ali and Abdul Samad Khan, who were originally employed by his father Humayun.
- It is marked by supple naturalism based on close observation of nature and fine and delicate drawing and is primarily aristocratic and secular.
- An illustrated manuscript of theTuti-nama in the Cleveland Museum of Art (USA) appears to be the first work of the Mughal School.
- The school reached its peak during the reign of Jahangir.
- Some of the famous painters in Akbar’s court other than the two Persian masters already mentioned are Dasvanth, Miskina, Nanha, Kanha, Basawan, Manohar, Doulat, Mansur, Kesu, Bhim Gujarati, etc.
- The famous painters of Jahangir are Aqa Riza, Abul Hasan, Mansur, Bishan Das, Manohar, Goverdhan, Balchand, Daulat, Mukhlis, Bhim and Inayat.
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