Although the Mughal dynasty came to power in India with the great victory won by Bābar at the Battle of Pānīpat in 1526, the Mughal style was almost exclusively the creation of Akbar. Trained in painting at an early age by a Persian master, Khwāja ʿAbd-uṣ-Ṣamad, who was employed by his father, Humāyūn, Akbar created a large atelier, which he staffed with artists recruited from all parts of India. The atelier, at least in the initial stages, was under the superintendence of Akbar’s teacher and another great Persian master, Mīr Sayyid ʿAlī; but the distinctive style that evolved here owed not a little to the highly individual tastes of Akbar himself, who took an interest in the work, inspecting the atelier frequently and rewarding painters whose work was pleasing.

The work of the Mughal atelier in this early formative stage was largely confined to the illustration of books on a wide variety of subjects: histories, romances, poetic works, myths, legends, and fables, of both Indian and Persian origin. The manuscripts were first written by calligraphers, with blank spaces left for the illustrations. These were executed largely by groups of painters, including a colourist, who did most of the actual painting, and specialists in portraiture and in the mixing of colours. Chief of the group was the designer, generally an artist of top quality, who formulated the composition and sketched in the rough outline. A thin wash of white, through which the initial drawing was visible, was then applied and the colours filled in. The colourist’s work proceeded slowly, the colour being applied in several thin layers and frequently rubbed down with an agate burnisher, a process that resulted in the glowing, enamel-like finish. The colours used were mostly mineral but sometimes consisted of vegetable dyes; and the brushes, many of them exceedingly fine, were made from squirrel’s tail or camel hair.

The earliest paintings (c. 1560–70) of the school of Akbar are illustrations of Ṭūṭī-nāmeh (“Parrot Book; Cleveland Museum of Art) and the stupendous illustrations of the Dāstān-e Amīr Ḥamzeh (“Stories of Amīr Ḥamzeh”; Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna), which originally consisted of 1,400 paintings of an unusually large size (approximately 25 inches by 16 inches [65 by 40 centimetres]), of which only about 200 have survived. The Ṭūṭī-nāmeh shows the Mughal style in the process of formation: the hand of artists belonging to the various non-Mughal traditions is clearly recognizable, but the style also reveals an intense effort to cope with the demands of a new patron. The transition is achieved in the Dāstān-e Amīr Ḥamzeh, in which the uncertainties are overcome in a homogeneous style, quite unlike Persian work in its leaning toward naturalism and filled with swift, vigorous movement and bold colour. The forms are individually modelled, except for the geometrical ornament used as architectural decor; the figures are superbly interrelated in closely unified compositions, in which depth is indicated by a preference for diagonals; and much attention is paid to the expression of emotion. One of the last manifestations of this bold and vigorous early manner is the Dārāb-nameh (c. 1580) in the British Museum.

Immediately following were some very important historical manuscripts, including the Tārīkh-e Khāndān-e Tīmūrīyeh (“History of the House of Timūr,” c. 1580–85; Khuda Baksh Library, Patna) and other works concerned with the affairs of the Tīmūrid dynasty, to which the Mughals belonged. Each of these manuscripts contains several hundred illustrations, the prolific output of the atelier made possible by the division of labour that was in effect. Historical events are recreated with remarkable inventiveness, though the explosive and almost frantic energy of the Dāstān-e Amīr-Ḥamzeh has begun to subside. The scale was smaller and the work began to acquire a studied richness. The narrative method employed by these Mughal paintings, like that of traditional literature, is infinitely discursive; and the painter did not hesitate to provide a fairly detailed picture of contemporary life—both of the people and of the court—and of the rich fauna and flora of India. Like Indian artists of all periods, the Mughal painter showed a remarkable empathy for animals, for through them flows the same life that flows through human beings. This sense of kinship allowed him to achieve unqualified success in the illustration of animal fables such as the Anwār-e Suhaylī (“Lights of Caropus”), of which several copies were painted, the earliest dated 1570 (School of Oriental and African Studies, London). It was in the illustrations to Persian translations of the Hindu epics, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, that the Mughal painter revealed to the full the richness of his imagination and his unending resourcefulness. With little precedent to rely on, he was nevertheless seldom dismayed by the subject and created a whole series of convincing compositions. Because most of the painters of the atelier were Hindus, the subjects must have been close to their hearts; and, given the opportunity by a tolerant and sympathetic patron, they rose to great heights. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Razm-nāmeh (City Palace Museum, Jaipur), as the Mahābhārata is known in Persian, is one of the outstanding masterpieces of the age.

In addition to large books containing numerous illustrations, which were the products of the combined efforts of many artists, the imperial atelier also cultivated a more intimate manner that specialized in the illustration of books, generally poetic works, with a smaller number of illustrations. The paintings were done by a single master artist who, working alone, had ample scope to display his virtuosity. In style the works tend to be finely detailed and exquisitely coloured. A Dīvān (“Anthology”) of Anwarī (Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts), dated 1589, is a relatively early example of this manner. The paintings are very small, none larger than five inches by 2¹/₂ inches (12 by 6 centimetres) and most delicately executed. Very similar in size and quality are the miniatures illustrating the Dīvān of Ḥāfeẓ (Reza Library, Rāmpur). On a larger scale but in the same mood are the manuscripts that represent the most delicate and refined works of the reign of Akbar: the Bahāristān of Jāmī (1595; Bodleian Library, Oxford), a Khamseh of Neẓāmī (1593; British Museum, London), a Khamseh of Amīr Khosrow (1598; Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), and an Anwār-e Suhaylī (1595–96; Bharat Kala Bhavan, Vārānasī).

Also prepared in the late 1590s were magnificent copies of the Akbar-nāmeh (“History of Akbar”; Victoria and Albert Museum, London) and the Kitāb-e Changīz-nāmeh (“History of Genghis Khan”; Gulistan Library, Tehrān). These copiously illustrated volumes were produced by artists working jointly, but the quality of refinement is similar to that of the poetic manuscripts.

Of the large number of painters who worked in the imperial atelier, the most outstanding were Dasvant and Basāvan. The former played the leading part in the illustration of the Razm-nāmeh. Basāvan, who is preferred by some to Dasvant, painted in a very distinctive style, which delighted in the tactile and the plastic, and with an unerring grasp of psychological relationships.