The McHugh paintings of India revolved around themes, like battles, court scenes, receptions, legendary stories, hunting scenes, Wildlife, portraits, etc. The Victoria and Albert Museums of London house a large and impressive collection of McHugh paintings. Mogul miniature Indo. Lilacs miniature painting of court life or the natural world, produced in northern India in the ateliers (workshops) of the Mogul emperors Kafka, Changer, and Shah Johan (1 6th-17th centuries).
Persian Safaris artists introduced the traditions of miniature painting from Persian art, but the atelier then developed its own unique style, combining Persian and European techniques as well as Hindu and Islamic traditions, Exquisite and meticulously detailed miniatures were painted with great realism n glowing, jewel-like colors. Many paintings were worked on by more than one artist, often both Hindu and Muslim – perhaps one doing the outline, while the other colored.
Islam arrived in India in the late 10th century, and subsequent waves of zealous and increasingly strong Muslim armies destroyed all Hindu and Buddhist temples between the 11th and 13th centuries. Little remains of Indian’s original Hindu and Buddhist art, although Persian painters employed in the Muslim courts adopted some of the characteristics of Hindu art. The first atelier was set up by the third Mogul emperor under Safaris printers. However, the emperor’s atelier soon became more celebrated for its miniatures.
Realistic royal portraits were produced, and albums of birds, animals, and flowers were painted for Exchange, Who took over Saba’s atelier when he died. Mogul miniatures remained popular during Exchanger’s reign, but began to decline under Shah Johan (reigned 1628-1666), as many Of the artists began to move to different courts in Ragout and Decant. Baber, the first emperor of Mussels used to identify him with the Tumid family tradition and this family was ardently devoted to the arts of the book.
The paintings of early period of Mussels can be seen in a specialist organization of a palace studio or scriptorium, which was managed then by Abyssinia. This scriptorium was headed by the legendary painter Bighead of McHugh period. But unfortunately, the scriptorium broke up at the end of Hussar Bazaar s reign and Bighead was brought to Tabors by the Saving Shah Small to organize the palace studio there, Some other painters were taken to Babushka by the Zebu conqueror, Muhammad Shabbily.
But the tame this scriptorium was not spoiled and it served as a model for the later built scriptorium by Human and Kafka, The McHugh emperor, Baber himself was an expert of painting and inherited the taste of his Tumid predecessors. He had to abandon his entire baggage sometimes to include a whole library of illustrated books having paintings. Baber had never a stable residence, which was needed for keeping those expensive illustrated paintings, as those were very expensive. But When became the ruler of Samaritan, he became able to stock them properly.
Both Baber and Kafka were intensely attached With painting and Kafka s great-grandson Changer was popular for his naturalistic representation and also for natural history. The Persian painting in drawings and studies in albums made for the Tumid rulers of Heart and the Turncoat rulers of Shirrs and Tabors reflect their interest in naturalism. Their interest in naturalism was been motivated by Chinese drawings, paintings and textiles. This inclination towards naturalism brought a gradual revolution in the attitude of Muslim authors to painting as such.
There is a common belief that Islam proscribes figural art but an attitude of conditional tolerance towards figural representation was illuminated in few South Asian Muslim paintings, In the mid-sixteenth-century, a writer officials rout librarian Dust Muhammad and the Aqua (Judge) Mad was inspired by Baber 5 style of painting. He therefore wrote a treatise on painting saying life like things should be the criteria of the paintings. Baber’ s interest in natural history, with which his memoirs are instilled, was even more original.
One of the accounts of Mussels unfurls the tact that Baber was immensely inclined towards painting. Baber’ s inclination towards natural painting can be imagined from few of his lines uttered when he was approaching a sheet of water near Kabul. He said, “we saw a wonderful thing something as red as the rose of the dawn kept wowing and vanishing between the sky and the water… When we got quite close we learned that the cause was flocks of geese, geese innumerable which, when the mass of birds flapped their wings in flight, sometimes showed red feathers, sometimes not”.
According to the history, Human was not a worthy successor of rich McHugh painting. It is said so because in the early sass the Saving Shah Thomas, Whose painting studio in Tabors was the finest and the most highly specialized in the Islamic world, doubted the authenticity of commissioning so many beautifully illustrated manuscripts, at least to the extent of releasing room his service some of the finest painters of his studio. But Human s stay in Persia was good for the history of McHugh painting.
During his visit he brought Mir Stayed All and bad al-Samara reputed calligrapher) to India and they established the Imperial McHugh painting studio. He continued to keep these painters even when he was still in exile and it was a considerable investment for the future painting. Mir Stayed All is said to have implemented a scene from a polo match on a gram of rice, with goal posts at each end and horsemen, two in the centre tot the field, one galloping in from a corner and a tour-the being ended a polo stick by an attendant, He had drawn some of his figure paintings in unfavorable conditions.
The calligraphic skill of Bad al-Assam was displayed in the last chapter of the Koran, the Shirt al-lasts_ In that particular art work, he wrote on one side of a grain of rice, with a commentary to it on the other. Another McHugh painter of that time called Mullah Pasha was praised for his skill in drilling poppy seeds with minute holes. But, there was hardly anyone in Human s court, who was able to look for the details of such a wonderful art work.
The portraits of painters in McHugh and Saving art show them wearing spectacles quite frequently and the best work of these painters were done mainly at there early young age. This is probably due to these miniature paintings done by them. It was during the reign of McHugh Emperor Human that India saw a new addition to its heritage Of miniature earl When the Emperor Human was in Safaris court of Shah Thomas l, he got introduced to Persian paintings. On his return to India, he began patronizing the Persian paintings With the help Of two proficient artists Stayed All and Abdul Assam.
Their discrete style along with the integration of the local fashion of painting gave rise to distinct style of art, which became renowned as McHugh painting. During the reigns of Kafka, Changer and Shah Johan the McHugh painting refurbished and blossomed further. Temperament was a famous painter of Baber’ s period, whose successor at Heart and Samaritan and the Savvied painted various miniature paintings in the public rooms tot the Mussels emperors. Temperament himself is said by later historians to have ordered illustrations of his victories and feasts in various palaces built for him at Samaritan.
One more painter called Shah Thomas as even reported to have decorated the Chill Stun palace at Gavin himself, with scenes including the appearance of Joseph before Photograph’ s wife (Kulak)_ His personal initiative might have been flatteringly exaggerated and he might not even have sketched the sort of thing he wanted but he merely specified it in detail. Kafka got decorated the walls of his private apartments at Fattener sir by the painters of his studio, but these have very little traces to hue a proper idea of them. Most Of these paintings were small in scale and not monumental.
The British Museum now contains the paintings of arioso later McHugh figures, including Kafka, Changer and Prince Korma (who ruled as Shah Johan). In these paintings, the central figure is labeled as Temperament and is often said to be Human. But, there is no authenticity Of the persons in these paintings. If it was the genealogical scene of the Mussels then Baber must be the centre figure of the painting. The landscape and figures are very much in the style of court painting at Tabors in the early sass and looked so different from any McHugh painting of the later sixteenth century.
When the second McHugh emperor, Human (reigned 1530-1540 and 1555-1556) as in Tabors in the Safaris court of Shah Thomas l, he was exposed to Persian miniature painting. When Human returned to India, he brought with him vivo accomplished Persian artists, Stayed All and Abdul Assam. Their works, and the assimilation of local styles during succeeding decades, gave shape to a distinct style, which became known as McHugh painting. The Titanium (literal meaning wrasses of a parrot”), now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, is among the earliest examples of McHugh painting.
The manuscript was made in the reign of Huntsman’s son, Kafka (r, 1556-1 ASS), Another manuscript the Humanism, also dad early in Saba’s reign, is said to have contained about 1400 large paintings on cotton (only a fraction have survived) and took about IS years to complete. As per the historical record, it is said that the first painting off portrait of Kafka was done by Bad al-Assam in 1551. In the Berlin album of Kafka, there is a painting of him with Hinder Mira. A later period painting of Kafka’ s court depicts Human in a tent.
The painters recruited by Human had to change their individual style as per Kafka’ s taste. During Kafka’ s time, the Persian style Of painting disappeared gradually. Kafka is regarded as the actual patron f McHugh painting even though he was reported to be illiterate and even dyslexic. The paintings Of Saba’s court included the album leaves and a bizarrely dressed, blue-eyed, wandering dervish somewhat figure. Kafka’ s first and greatest project was said to be the copying and illustration Of a romance already popular in India, the Ham-name, the heroic developments of the Emir Ham, a kinsman of the Prophet.
This painting was done on cloth, with a stout paper backing, and its giant format is exceptional in Islamic painting. It was not possible at the Kafka’ s period to display the paintings for public exhibition even though Kafka had desired so. The small staff of Persian members recruited by Human could not do that. The creators of the beautiful paintings of Kafka’ s court were not known exactly. But, it is assumed that the Muslim painters from Malta and the Muslim courts tooth Decca (Madrigal, Bujumbura and Colloidal), would have been done those paintings in markedly differing styles.
They were also trained in wall painting (a probable source for many of the illustrations) but not in book illustration at all probably. Most of the paintings surviving today are not variable in quality and many must have men experiments without a practical sequel, The great painters of Kafka’ s time, Bad al-Assam and Mir Stayed All were mainly responsible for executing the paintings They used to work cut out in the administration of the studio, obtaining the paper and pigments, issuing them as necessary to the painters and accounting for them to the Treasury, and then seeing that the work was satisfactory and completed on time.
The characteristic painting of Kafka was full With scenes nourished With adventure and drama, giants, monsters and demons, in a smoky palette of colors and this style continued till the end of his reign. The effect Of these paintings was often brilliant, but bold rather than refined, combining Persian compositions and figures with the dark. Jingly landscapes of the painting of pre-Lilacs India. One of the finest paintings of Kafka s court is the one, which depicts the 15 miraculous rescue of Ham s son, Nor al-Dare, from drowning.
In this particular painting, the work of at least four separate hands can be detected. It includes the water, painted in bravura linear style with white highlights, the figures, the forest landscape and some or all of the birds. Some paintings of Kafka’ s court have found place in the palace libraries, astronomical and astrological treatises, particularly star books and other works relevant to medicine, works of seismography and geography. But now only few tot these have survived.
The earliest copy tot the Invalid Usually’ was made tort him, which shows marked reminiscences of contemporary painting at Tabors or Meshed. It contains twenty-seven full-page miniatures, but the margins of some of the other pages have pounced sketches in charcoal. During Kafka s time, even the non-Muslim painters used to practice various works in his royal scriptorium. The painters were of Hindu, Gain, and even of Christian origin. The painters of
Kafka’ s court like Manor and Mansard illustrated double-page spreads and depicted the episodes from Baber’ s campaigns, his visits to his relatives, his feasts and his hunts. Sometimes these paintings spread up to three or four pages, which depicted the gardens ordered by Baber, particularly near Kabul, the flora and fauna of India as the cameos. The subjects for illustration in most of the paintings also included Baber s visit to the rock-carved idols below the fortress of Aura, which showed his wide sympathies, which Kafka himself shared.
The Persian origins Of the painters supervising the palace studio Of Kafka and their ready access to Persian and Central Asian manuscripts figured largely in their paintings. In these paintings, primary colors were rare and there was a vast spectrum of smoky tones and figures were highly modeled. As most of these painters were trained in Europe, the European effect was very much evident in their paintings. These paintings had elegant gloss binding, margins illuminated in gold inks of contrasting tones with an almost infinite variety of detail, magnificently illuminated medallions and headpieces.
Most of the painters of Kafka’ s court used to treat standard subjects exceptionally. In one of such matting by Mukluk, Abraham Guru is shown hunting gazelles with a background tot a Flemish seascape with ships and mountains distantly sunlit. The painting at Kafka’ s court was so rich and diverse that it is difficult to single out one aspect but portraiture should be mentioned specially. These paintings also depict the historical narratives since the early fifteenth century under the successors of Temperament.
But in spite of his heroic status in their eyes, there are no known portraits either of him, or of his son Shah Rush or of his grandson Laugh Beg, A concept of the dynastic portrait developed gradually during the Kafka’ s time ND it was at least done for the public audience halls of his palaces Most of his portraits were in profile or half-profile style. Kafka was very much attached to paintings and Once in a private discussion of painting he remarked to Babul Faze, “There are many that hate painting, but such men I dislike.
It appears to me as if a painter had a quite peculiar means Of recognizing God; for a painter in sketching anything that has life, and in devising its limbs, one after the other, must come to feel that he cannot bestow individuality upon his work, and is thus forced to think of God. He giver of life, and will then be increased in knowledge. ‘ During the reign of Kafka (1556-1605), the imperial court, apart from being the centre of administrative authority to manage and rule the vast McHugh empire, also emerged as a centre of cultural excellence.
McHugh painting thrived and hundreds of painters created innumerable paintings depicting scenes from various Hindu epics including the Ramadan and the Inhabitant; themes with animal fables; individual portraits; and paintings on scores of different themes. McHugh style during this period continued to refine itself with elements of realism ND naturalism coming to the fore. Kafka (reigned 1556?SASS) aimed to decrease friction between Indian’s Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist communities by producing beautifully illustrated histories and mythologies of the various cultures to encourage understanding and toleration.
In the second half of the sixteenth century between the Indian McHugh and West had been intercultural link during Isobars reign. Kafka consumed painting passion and other forms of art. He had independence of thoughts and also passion for knowledge about European art, culture and religion. To satiate his thirst lead to evolve relationship with Portuguese. Kafka and Changer was great admirer of European art and craft. Due to their admirations Dutch, British and Portuguese too were trying to establish trade relations with Indian Mussels and presented great number of paintings to Emperor Changer.
McHugh artists copied those paintings and adopted its versions. During this period two different styles emerged McHugh style with fine European influence. Prominent McHugh artists like ABA’ Has etc. By combining two techniques?McHugh and European produced admirable personal and romantic works. During Saba’s, real begetter Of McHugh paintings, under his personal supervision great tradition Of McHugh paintings developed and carried on for at least hundred years when Rearrange deposed his father Shah Johan in 1658.
Rearrange was orthodox and did not patronize his predecessors paintings. McHugh dynasty declined after Rearrange and then the royal artists and atelier did not receive royal patronage. Till the end of McHugh dynasty in 1857, miniatures were produced but inferior in quality to those produced in Kafka to Shah Khan’s period. Kafka founded Imperial studio, headed by Mir Stayed All and Khaki Abdul Assam who trained the court minters. Though Kafka was illiterate but India experienced the extraordinary transformation of art during his reign.
The greatest and finest project was copying and illustration of romance. In his studio he employed large number of painters, calligraphers, gilders, paper makers, and color grinders etc, who were engaged in production of number of illustrated manuscripts. Both the prominent painters played active part in the administration of the studio and seeing that the work was satisfactory and completed on time. They adopted collective approach, that to a single work only two or three artists they assigned.
The experienced painters veer responsible for composition, drawing and portraiture and younger artists assisted them. He was unorthodox and used to invite philosophers and leaders for discussions and debates from various religions. By blending various cultural values, traditions and religions he as a head created new religion named “Tahiti-e-Allah”. The same approach he applied to the art and created unique style by blending Persian, Chinese, European and Indian tradition. That’s why the figural scenes, trees. Grass. Animals are realistic and borders were decorated with flora and fauna, birds etc. To provide quality to these paintings. The most remarkable thing in paintings during his reign was that mostly male courtiers were painted because females were not allowed in open courts. Primary colors are rare, figures are highly modeled and convey distance and the painters had been trained in the Northern Europe. The paintings at his court were so rich, diverse and demands special consideration, His portraits are in profile or half-profile, sometimes stiff.
His painters learned their use of colors from European paintings. At his death in 1605 his library was estimated at 24,000 volumes, with a total tot 6, 500, 000 rupees. Changer (1605-27) had an artistic inclination and during his reign McHugh painting developed further, Brushwork became finer and the colors lighter. Changer was also deeply influenced by European painting. During his reign he came into direct contact with the English Crown and was sent gifts of oil paintings, which included portraits of the King and Queen.
He encouraged his royal atelier to take up the single point perspective favored by European artists, unlike the flattened multi-layered style used in traditional miniatures He particularly encouraged paintings depicting events of his own elite, individual portraits, and studies of birds, flowers and Animals. The Jinrikisha , written during his lifetime, which is a biographical account of Changer, has several paintings, including some unusual subjects such as the sexual union Of a saint With a tigress, and fights between spiders-Sangria’s painters had ability to produce identical copies of work in his collection.
In the art Of portrait miniature Sangria’s paintings work miracles. His passion for nature was unrestricted, keen observer of flowers, grass, plants, animals and birds and had fondness Of music, poetry, traveling like his ancestors, especially grandfather Baber. He had artistic and aesthetic background from his childhood had been in contact with paintings. That’s why had great involvement in that art form and patronized personally the royal atelier. Popular subject matters were court scenes, flora, fauna and birds.
The choice of material reflects Sangria’s own taste, The Imperial albums paintings depict Sangria’s interest in Cuffs, Muslim rulers, Princess visiting ascetics. Having great affection for his pets— cheetah, carrier pigeons and his consideration for the royal stud elephant was famous. He shifted Imperial Library to Lahore tromp Agar. Lahore became the enter of artistic activity. When visited Lahore found his palace decorated with many paintings. His master artists painted beautiful, refined and high quality art and McHugh miniatures reached its highest peak.
His wife Nor Johan had strong personality with complete control over her husband. Due to her influence female portraits began to appear, Under Changer the fusion of style— India, Persian and European gave force and individuality to McHugh painting. When Emperor Kafka was in power, the political, economic and cultural landscape had begun changing. The McHugh paintings encouraged innumerable painters ho further brought more rudiments of precision and practicality into these paintings. These renewed paintings also depicted the events from the epics of Inhabited and the Ramadan.
The animal fables, Which are famous in India by the name Panchromatic, were also depicted in McHugh paintings. The portfolio of McHugh paintings is large and diverse involving the comprehensive countryside backgrounds and rudiments of individual portraiture. The artistic scenario excelled during sovereignty of Changer (1605-27). The paintings emerging during his reign illustrated scenes and events from his life. A biographical portrayal of Changer known as the Jinrikisha , which was written during his lifetime has numerous pictorial idiosyncrasies paintings.
The colors used in these paintings were lighter and the brush strokes were more intricate. Human figures, flowers, animals and birds formed the various themes on which the McHugh paintings emerged during Changer reign, ABA al- Has was a painter during the McHugh period in India. Changer was the McHugh ruler during that time, ABA al-Has originally belonged to Afghanistan. It was considered the city with an artistic tradition . He was the son of Aqua Raze of Hear, Emperor Changer took the initiative to train ABA al-Has in his spacious studios and workshops. Soon he excelled his father and his employer.
As an acknowledgement to his talent, Changer conferred him the title Nadir-Uzi-Shaman (“Wonder of the Age”). Thus ABA al-Has became the royal painter at the Durbar of Changer, He was bestowed the task of documenting events of the imperial court. This documentation resulted in striking portraits. Not many of ABA al-Has s paintings lasted, but those that distinguish him as the artist, shows that he had also worked on a varied subjects, comprising some day-to- ay scenes. “Squirrels in a Plane Tree” is the most famous painting created by him. Today he is unanimously associated with this painting.
The painting adorns the British Library. It is regarded as masterful depiction Of animal posture and movement Such a painting as it was, could only have been deduced from direct observation. The picture portrays European squirrels, unknown in India during that time. His work indicates that Changer’ s zoo may have held a few of those animals. As an alternative to the fact it is also believed that on one of his travels ABA al-Has may have accompanied Changer. But the signature on the painting is perplexing, as it is signed as Nadir al-Cars (“Miracle of the Age”), which is the title of status Mansard.
But the style of the painting decidedly does not match with Status Mansard’ s style. Taut there remains a possibility that both painters collaborated on this painting. The development of McHugh kingdom was drooped when Shah Johan took up the throne, The financial condition also became very severe. Therefore, as a sensible ruler he also neglected the Imperial studio of painting and concentrated more on other more important things. Most of the paintings of Shaman s time ere concentrated on the first decade of his reign. Only major manuscript done by Shah Johan was a journal, which was all about praising his reigning period.
This journal covered twenty years and in it the paintings veer executed simultaneously with the texts. Despite of the financial problems, he did not cut the financial support to the painters working under his patronage. Shah Johan s painting studio tried to follow the rich culture of Changer to a considerable extent. Shah Johan s painting albums were well known for their floral margins, Which were extraordinary as well as botanically accurate but their subject matter as narrower in range. Most of the paintings were formal single portraits.
For this, some Of the portraits had a misleading family likeness. For example, that identified as the ambassador of the Safaris Shah Safe, Muhammad All Beg, painted by Hashish looked similar to another portrait of a Safaris official in the British Museum who might not be the same person at all. It was evident from the paintings of State occasions like Shah Johan s accession to the throne in 1628 that his painters also readily seized any opportunity to depict figures in large groups. The naturalism of Sangria’s paintings started becoming a secondary consideration during the time of Shah Johan.
The individualism of the European, Muslim and Hindu elements, religious, cultural and stylistic pattern of paintings made under Kafka and Changer were missing remarkably. This reflects Shah Johan ‘ s greater commitment to Muslim orthodoxy and the rejection of the Hindu element in the McHugh state. V-or this reason, probably, Shah Johan handed over some of the painters of his studio to his much- pampered favorite son, Dare Oshkosh, who was killed in 1658. But still, the paintings of his period maintained the brilliance and gloss, the elimination of raring features, which represented in a sense a zenith of the McHugh style.
During the reign of Shah Johan (1628-58), McHugh paintings continued to develop, but they gradually became cold and rigid. Themes including musical parties; lovers, sometimes in intimate positions, on terraces and gardens; and ascetics gathered around a fire, abound in the McHugh paintings of this period. Governed avgas a noted painter during the reigns of Kafka, Changer and Shah Johan. Musical events, lovers and ascetics formed the main themes Of the McHugh paintings during the reign of Shah Johan (1628-58).
Shah Johan is most distinguished for his architectural feat, the Tax Mall that took 16 years for its come lotion. Style of painting, confined mainly to book illustrations and miniatures, that evolved in India during the McHugh Dynasty. McHugh paintings developed from the 16th to 18th centuries during the reign of the McHugh emperors and had a distinctive blend of Indian, Islamic and Persian styles. The close study of nature, the royal life and the aristocratic tastes, all formed the prominent hallmarks of the McHugh painting.
Emperor Rearrange did not actively patronize the McHugh paintings but some f the renowned paintings were seen during his reign, Again during the rule of Muhammad Shah (1719-48), the McHugh paintings saw a short upsurge but slowly the art had begun to downfall. An endowed artist of the Delhi-based court of the McHugh emperor Muhammad Shah, India Mall kept alive the saga McHugh art by painting in illustrious Delhi style after moving to Locknutџbuy I-Has, Bishop Dads, Governed and Adulate are some of the celebrated artists of the McHugh period.
Rearrange (1658-1707) did not actively encourage McHugh paintings, but as this art form had gathered momentum and had a number of patrons, McHugh paintings intended to survive, but the decline had set in. Some sources however note that a few Of the best McHugh paintings were made for Rearrange, speculating that the painters may have realized that he was about to close the workshops and thus exceeded themselves in his behalf. [l] A brief revival was noticed during the reign of Muhammad Shah ‘Rearrange’ (1719-48), but by the time of Shah Lam II (1759-1806), the art of McHugh painting had lost its glory.
By that time, other schools of Indian painting had developed, including, in the royal courts of the Ragout kingdoms of Restaurant, Ragout painting and in the cities ruled by he British East India Company, the Company style under Western influence, The McHugh paintings depicted events from the various aspects of the erstwhile McHugh Empire, These paintings portrayed the scenes from the battlefields, hunting sports, the wild elite and animals and also the court scenes.
One of the McHugh paintings illustrate a prince and his companions smoking a ‘Hausa , in the presence tot beautiful ladies in the lovely environs of a walled fort gardens. The hunting scene in the McHugh paintings corresponded to a classic genre that depicted royal hunts and the general portray of the royal life. McHugh Painting that emerged during the reign of McHugh Empire around 16-19th centuries was limited to the images on the books and albums filled with paintings, calligraphic prints and ornamental borders.
These splendid albums full of McHugh paintings were enveloped in leather, which was gilded, embossed and painted. In the initial phases the technique often involved a team of artists, one determined the composition a second did the actual coloring and a specialist in portraiture worked on individual faces. Probably the earliest example of McHugh painting is the illustrated folktale Tutu-name (Tale of a Parrot).
