MINIATURE ART FORM | RANGRAGE
MINIATURE ART FORM
They say all things beautiful come in small sizes.Miniature paintings are a perfect example to this adage.Miniature paintings are one of the many forms of our art heritage. Dating back to the 10th century AD, these paintings were made originally to decorate books and scripts. The word miniature prefixed on it indicates that these are small sized or mini paintings. Miniature paintings have its roots in Rajasthan and they were first used in hand written religious books. The stories in these books centred around Hindu Gods and Goddesses and so did the paintings.
Since paper was not invented in that era, these paintings were drawn on leaves called ‘Tadapatra’ meaning leaf of palm tree. The paintings were infused in books and later on they took shape of an independent art form. The painters were from the local society and they used these paintings to make the books and scripts more attractive to the readers.
The uniqueness of miniature paintings is that mostly the subjects are drawn in side profiles. Very rarely is the front profile of the face or body is used. The eyes and nose of the human form are highlighted and the waist is always kept very slim. The size of eyes and nose will be usually big. The body in the paintings is always adorned with beautiful jewellery.
Colours used in the paintings are very bright. Red, yellow, blue, green – basically all colours Indian are prominently used. The colours used are mainly made of natural dyes.
As can be seen in the painting below, the colours are vibrant and the figures of Lord Krishna and Radha are in side profiles.
Most of the paintings revolved around religious characters and stories. Mahabharta and Ramayan are the two epics of Indian culture and these two texts have been the main subject of miniature paintings.
In the Rajasthani style miniature paintings, a salient feature is the turban. All male figures in the paintings are shown in colourful and decorated turbans, as can be seen in the painting below:
As time passed, the miniature paintings got patronage in the Mughal Kingdom. The later paintings show lot of influence from the Mughal era. In this time, the paintings depicted more about the Mughal emperor and his court room dramas. Court dancers, singers, musicians featured in miniature paintings. Scenes from the emperor’s entourage in the town or his hunting games also can be seen in paintings of that time.
Some illustrations of that era are:
Shop Now: https://www.rangrage.in/
20% OFF on first purchase. Register today!
Comments
Post a Comment