Persian Paintings

Persian Paintings were most importantly illustrative; a true marriage of Poetry and Art can be seen in them. They seem to be illustrations of a very poetic narrative and have the sweeping feel of epics. So its not surprising to find out that most of these paintings were inspired from great works of poetry. The anecdotal nature of Persian Poetry finds its mirror image in Persian Paintings. The lines of most Persian paintings are firm and confident; there is a keen focus on the silhouettes and distribution of details is almost flawless.

The genesis of Persian Paintings

It's quite difficult to trace the roots of Persian Paintings but most historians suggest that since it reached its peak during the Mongol Period , it has Chinese origins . After all Mongolian rulers did bring along with them Chinese painters, and therefore a cult of Chinese paintings.

Mughal Rulers and Persian Paintings

As stated before, Humayun was the first of the Mughal rulers to be smitten with Persian Paintings. But the subsequent proponents were no less enthusiastic about it. Indeed Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan did everything in their power to internalize Persian Paintings.

Akbar adapted it to suit Indian sensibilities by incorporating Hindu mythological figures.

Jahangir encouraged the depiction of his life through Jahangirnama. In fact Jahangirnama had several unusual paintings like ones, which depicted sexual union of a saint with a tigress, and fights between spiders.

Persian Paintings were so internalized by Indian painters that they soon became a part of their psyche.