Indian Miniature Painting

Indian Miniature Paintings are intricate, colorful handmade illuminations, miniscule in size, executed carefully with delicate brushwork. The miniatures have a lyrical quality that enamors the mind and the soul. Most of the paintings are unique compositions on innumerable themes that are characteristic only of India. The colors used in the miniatures were derived from minerals, vegetables, precious stones, indigo, conch shells, pure gold and silver.

Some of the noted miniature schools were those of Mughals, Rajputs, Pahari and Deccan. The Mughal paintings, patronized by royalty, were aristocratic, distinctive, strong in portraiture, and reflected personal glory and vanity.

Unlike the Mughal paintings, Rajasthani paintings conveyed simple themes and life around them. They demonstrated a love for everything, human and animals, such as the deer, the peacock, the dove, the monkey, the trees, clouds and mountains. They have a universal appeal and are noted for their representation of true Indian spirit. Mention should also be made here of the ragamala paintings that dealt with musical sentiments illustrated with representations of specific human situations. Pahari painting is a hybrid - a distinctive, creative complex of the pre-existing elements of the Gujarati style of manuscript illustration, the Mughal style and the Rajasthani style.