India has a long tradition of artistic excellence and painting is one of the major medium which depicts Indian art and culture. The history of painting can be traced through the ancient mainly mural paintings and medieval mainly miniature paintings. The paintings in Mughal period had a distinctive style drawn from a blend of Indian, Persian and European influence known as Victorian style

The focus of painting shifted from god towards glorifying ruler and showing his life. They mainly focused on hunting scenes, historical events and other court related paintings. These paintings were considered as unique paintings in the world because of the brilliant colours combination. Some illustrations of these paintings patronised by the Mughal rulers are as follows:

1 Babur- He patronised Persian artist Bihzad who made illustrations of Mughal family tree.

2 Akbar- He was very fond of paintings and he dedicated entire department for paintings called Tasvir Khana . Most illustrated work is Tutinama that is tale of a parrot. Other famous works are Hamzanama, Anvar -suhaili etc. From here Indian influence started in painting because he saw painting as a mean of study and amusement.

Theme – Fairs and festivals, 3D printing, use of foresight fore sighing techniques

3 Jahangir- The Mughal paintings reached zenith . He was naturalist by nature and preferred natural paintings of flora and fauna i e birds, animals, trees and flowers. He was fond of paintings and even dedicated private workshop for him to practice paintings. He made naturalistic paintings on zebra, Turkey and cock.

4 Shah Jahan – He introduced artificial elements (reduced liveliness) in his paintings. He started using gold and silver in paintings and encouraged artists to use pencil and charcoal .European influence also started in painting

Conclusion

The Mughal school of painting gradually declined during Aurangzeb period. The artist migrated to other places primarily to the south which gave rise to Deccani school of painting. Mughal school of painting is the magnificent period during India’s history.