The contribution of Mughals to the art of painting was remarkable. The foundation for the Mughal painting was laid by Humayun when he was staying in Persia.
He brought with him two painters – Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdal Samad to India. These two painters became famous during Akbar’s reign. Akbar commissioned the illustrations of several literary and religious texts. He invited a large number of painters from different parts of the country tohis court. Both Hindus and Muslims joined in this work.
Baswan, Miskina and Daswant attained great positions as Akabar’s courtartists. Illustrations of Persian versions of Mahabharata and Ramayanawere produced in miniature form. Many other Indian fables became the miniature paintings in the Art Studio established by Akbar.Historical works such as Akbar Nama also remained the main themes of Mughal paintings. The most important work is Hamznama, which consisted 1200 paintings. Indian colours such as peacock blue,Indian red began to be used.
