.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This painting is an example of the emergent trend in Mughal courts from the early days of Akbar's reign to emulate European artistic modes, which bought with it a new host of subjects, many religious. European prints by Flemish masters working ultimately under the influence of Albrecht Dürer were accessible to the painters of Akbar's studio (a Mughal miniature of the Virgin and Child, done circa 1600 after an engraving by Dürer is in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, reproduced in Amina Okada, Imperial Mughal Painters. Indian Miniatures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Paris, 1992, p. 24, no. 24). Dutch, French and Italian prints were also available, as were large scale oil paintings. One such oil painting, possibly by Rubens, is seen in a miniature by Abu'l-Hasan depicting 'Ceremonies at the accession of Jahangir' from a Jahangirnama manuscript which is in the St. Petersburg Muraqqa' (f.22 recto, Francesca V. Habsburg et al., The St. Petersburg Muraqqa', Lugano, 1996, pl.177). Almost contemporaneous with our miniature, the depiction of this oil painting shows the influences to which our artist must have been exposed.
The Crucifixion is a particularly unusual scene to find depicted on Mughal manuscripts. Although Jesus is indeed a prophet of Islam, the Crucifixion has always been denounced as a fallacy, a substitute said to have been crucified in place of the prophet. Whether such scenes were commissioned by someone with stronger Christian sympathies or were simply a straightforward example of a transcription of a western source is unknown. There is certainly evidence for the latter explanation - one Mughal painting of the Crucifixion in the Gulshan album bears very strong resemblance to the composition of a Wierix print, suggesting that it was a direct copy (published in Elaine Wright, Muraqqa'. Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, exhibition catalogue, Virginia, 2008, fig.43, pp.94-95). The Jesuit Father Jerome Xavier who was in Lahore in 1598 wrote that whilst there he saw the Prince Salim collecting European paintings and prints - and that he had seen the prince's artists copying them. One of the images that he specifically mentioned was that of the Descent from the Cross. It is suggested that a Mughal painting of the same scene from the "Small Clive Album" and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is the work that the Jesuit father saw (Susan Strong, Painting for the Mughal Emperor. The Art of the Book 1560-1660, London, 2002, pl.77, p.111).
An album leaf with a painting of the Crucifixion, possibly by the artist Kesu Das, is in the British Museum (J.M.Rogers, Mughal Miniatures, London, 1993, no.44, p.68). Another is in the collection of the Aga Khan (AKM00117; https://www.akdn.org/museum/detail.asp?artifactid=1399#). The Aga Khan painting, which is dated to circa 1600, depicts Christ on the cross surrounded by the Virgin and St. John. The face of Christ in the Aga Khan painting, as well as the background, with small purple-tinged buildings peeping out from a rolling landscape, with the glow of the sunset appearing over them, is very similar to that the painting offered here. As well as the obvious western imports in both paintings, they both also use large craggy rocks, reminiscent of the forms adopted by some Iranian manuscript painters of the sixteenth century.
The Crucifixion is a particularly unusual scene to find depicted on Mughal manuscripts. Although Jesus is indeed a prophet of Islam, the Crucifixion has always been denounced as a fallacy, a substitute said to have been crucified in place of the prophet. Whether such scenes were commissioned by someone with stronger Christian sympathies or were simply a straightforward example of a transcription of a western source is unknown. There is certainly evidence for the latter explanation - one Mughal painting of the Crucifixion in the Gulshan album bears very strong resemblance to the composition of a Wierix print, suggesting that it was a direct copy (published in Elaine Wright, Muraqqa'. Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, exhibition catalogue, Virginia, 2008, fig.43, pp.94-95). The Jesuit Father Jerome Xavier who was in Lahore in 1598 wrote that whilst there he saw the Prince Salim collecting European paintings and prints - and that he had seen the prince's artists copying them. One of the images that he specifically mentioned was that of the Descent from the Cross. It is suggested that a Mughal painting of the same scene from the "Small Clive Album" and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is the work that the Jesuit father saw (Susan Strong, Painting for the Mughal Emperor. The Art of the Book 1560-1660, London, 2002, pl.77, p.111).
An album leaf with a painting of the Crucifixion, possibly by the artist Kesu Das, is in the British Museum (J.M.Rogers, Mughal Miniatures, London, 1993, no.44, p.68). Another is in the collection of the Aga Khan (AKM00117; https://www.akdn.org/museum/detail.asp?artifactid=1399#). The Aga Khan painting, which is dated to circa 1600, depicts Christ on the cross surrounded by the Virgin and St. John. The face of Christ in the Aga Khan painting, as well as the background, with small purple-tinged buildings peeping out from a rolling landscape, with the glow of the sunset appearing over them, is very similar to that the painting offered here. As well as the obvious western imports in both paintings, they both also use large craggy rocks, reminiscent of the forms adopted by some Iranian manuscript painters of the sixteenth century.