Akbar's atelier

Akbar (1556-1605) employed over a hundred Persian and Indian artists, according to Abul Fazal. Together they created a new Indo-Persian style. Akbar supervised and judged their work himself.

The Hamza Nama tells the adventures of Hamza, the Prophet's uncle. It was recorded as 14 volumes with 1,400 large paintings in gouache on cloth, made from about 1567 to 1582 under Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd us Samad. The big paintings were held up for the audience while a narrator read the story aloud. In 'Spies attack the City of Kaymar', Persian patterns and rocks mix with Indian trees and colours.

Akbar had Sanskrit texts translated into Persian: the Mahabharata as the Razm Nama (1589, with 169 paintings, supervised by Daswant), the Ramayana, and the Harivamsa (translated by Badauni). The Akbar Nama recorded his own reign.

Contact with Europeans brought naturalism. Basawan's Madonna and Child blends classical drapery and Renaissance tenderness with an Indian child, a fan and jewellery.

Miskin's Noah's Ark (subdued colours, a vertical perspective, convincing water) and Krishna Lifts Mount Govardhan show the wide mix of themes at Akbar's court.