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The
special place held by Mansur in the court of Jehangir was as a painter
of flora and fauna. This was indeed his greatest strength as a
painted. For example his painting of the Turkey presented to
Emperor Jehangir by an Iranian ruler. The
traditional subjects of the miniatures are court scenes, processions,
life studies, monuments, and flora & fauna. Paintings of the
royalty were common. There
are however a few interesting facts about the subject of the
paintings. There are little if any paintings actually depicting
the painters at work. Firoz has made amends to this for e.g.
Through his painting of himself in his studio painting the family dog, a
Russian Boxer, which who is also depicted in the foreground.
Hill
scenes are also extremely rare subjects of the miniatures.
This is because the rulers and patrons of the artists never
visited the hills except a few visits to Kashmir.
Jehangir went by horseback, while Shah Jahan went by boat.
Both these rulers were accompanied by their painters, as was
always the norm.
The paintings of these painters of the Valley are however the end
of hill studies by Mughal Painters.
The contemporary painters have however taken up theme of the
hills an example of this is the painting of the flower ‘Fox-Glove’
in the hills of Kumaon.
In the background the famous Badrinath temple has also been
depicted. These subjects are skillfully depicted using the traditional technique, mediums and materials. |