SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Mughal painting achieved its finest glory and refinement during the reign of Jahangir (1605-1627). Born in 1569, he grew up in an atmosphere conducive to the development of a lively interest in artistic pursuit. An attempt has been made to trace the evolution of his complex personality which exerted a great inlfluence on the development of Mughal painting. The establishment of an independent earelier, called here the Salim Studio, and its achievements have been noted in Chapter 3 After becoming emperor Jahagir continued the tradition of MS-illustration for a few years. The large number of pictures collected by him since his early years were mounted on the large folios of a set of sumptuously produced albums. Then his leading painters, Farrukh Beg, Daulat, Abu'l Hasan, Manohar, Mansur and Bishands, settled down to produce a series of remarkable portrait-studies and genre scenes, Many of these were used as illustrations of the emperor's autobiographical work called the Jahangirnama. Chapters 4 to 8 are devoted to the study of these different phases of Jahangiri painting. The complicated political events of the later years of his reign cast a shadow of gloom on Jahangir's mind. Coupled with his sickness and a number of other factors these events made him contemplative and fearful of his destiny. Abu'l Hasan and Bichitr prepared a series of allegorical drawings to illustrate his inner agonies. In order to evolve the iconographical symbols they drew heavily on the European engravings. Chapter 9 deals with the series of allegorical drawings, while Chapter 10 is concerned with the whole question of European impact. The reign of Jahangir also witnessed the beginning of the decadence of the Mughal style and a rapid decentralisation of artistic pursuit.