Beautifying His beloved Lot n° 37

Specifications: Watercolor on Paper Artist: Navneet Parikh 10.2 inches X 13.5 inches Rajasthani miniatures betray considerable influence of Mughal art, which had attained a degree of perfection. Art in Rajasthan was encouraged ad promoted by feudals who liked depiction of their typical life pattern e.g. animal fights, processions, hunting scenes and scenes from the harem.The activities inside the palace and courts fascinated artists. They wanted to probe and portray that which was not common information. Most often it was their imagination. Beautifully put in multi colours, a prince who is regally dressed himself helps his beloved to adorn herself. He folds her hair in his hand and tries to tame them with a sarpech-like pin that she holds in order to hand it to him. She wears a ghagra and choli of rare colour combination and magnificent jewellery. Both the faces in profile look confident - he of his power and she of her beauty. Resting against bolsters, they compliment each other's qualities very well. Flowers fruit and jewellery boxes lie littered around them.The artist uses luminous colours for the protagonists and the foreground. Not wanting to overshadow its impact he uses tones of brown and gold for the background. The pillars and arches give testimony of good architecture and the golden engraving on the walls that of good craftsmanship. The entire scene is captured within a marble arch with appealing inlay work on the corners. This description by Renu Rana. Mughal Painting The Mughal school of painting runs parallel to the Mughal dynasty. It came into prominence in the sixteenth century, during the reign of king Akbar. It reached its zenith under the patronage of Akbar’s grandson – king Jahangir. The reign of the latter’s successor king Shah Jahan saw its decline and finally under the unsympathetic Aurangzeb it breathed its last. Indeed, as a school of art, the duration of Mughal