After the Great Mughals : Painting in Delhi and the Regional Courts in the 18 and 19 Centuries

Contents: 1. After the Great Mughals/Barbara Schmitz. 2. Mughal painting during the reign of Muhammad Shah/Terence Mclnerney. 3. Towards a new naturalism: portraiture in Murshidabad and Avadh, 1750-80/J.P. Losty. 4. Important illustrated manuscripts in the National Museum, New Delhi/Barbara Schmitz and Nasim Akhtar. 5. The painter Imam Bakhsh of Lahore/Jean-Marie Lafont and Barbara Schmitz. 6. Articulating a life, in words and pictures: Begum Samru and The Ornament of Histories/Aditya Behl. 7. In the company style: documenting crafts practised in and around Bareilly in the 1820s/Mehr Afshan Farooqi. 8. Later Indian paintings and illustrated manuscripts in two New York libraries/Barbara Schmitz. 9. Late or faux Mughal painting: a question of intent/Robert J. Del Bonta. Index.

"Although the study of painting under the Great Mughals is one of the most popular topics of Indian art historical research, scant attention has been given to the continuation of this tradition – the paintings and illustrated manuscripts produced at the Delhi court and various regional schools from the reign of Bahadur Shah I in 1707 to the end of the reign of Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1858. During this period, the government at Delhi became weaker with multiple invasions by the Persian and Afghan armies, and attacks by Rohilla, Maratha, and Jat forces. Court artists fled Delhi to the safety of new eastern capitals, at Lucknow or Faizabad in Avadh or Murshidabad in Bengal, and local schools with highly individualistic styles came into their own. Hovering over these schools of painting was the influence of patrons from the East India Company.

"This Marg volume addresses several important themes of the era: the development of the styles of major artists, such as Chitarman, Dip Chand, and Imam Bakhsh, and their influences on later Mughal painting; the proliferation of regional styles during these years; and finally offered are new appraisals of the European contribution to Indian art of these 150 years." (jacket)