Blithe and Spirited it Skips Along

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Indians have always portrayed animals with great empathy, but the Mughal painters achieved a new height of liveliness and realism largely due to Jehangir's insistence on acute observation and his instinct for naturalness. Out of the leaf of an old manuscript jumps an arboreal, bushy tailed rodent of the genus sciurus, a variety of our very own squirrel. The quickness of its movement and the agility of its body is not hampered by the tail it carries behind which is more than half the length of this little animal's body. One is immediately struck by the fluid line of the animal's body and the sumptuous colors. Painted in purple and lilac, the colors are as spirited as its movement. It is caught in the middle of action. Jumping from branch to branch, its hind legs are still in air and that is how the artist decided to capture it on paper. The branch may hang out in space but it provides a footing to the squirrel, literally and pictorially. The blithe action of the accurate form in unusual color is the attraction of the painting.

Painted against a dull background, the top and bottom parts of the painting contains calligraphic writings, which not only have primacy over painting but is also accorded sanctity. The painter's aesthetic lends his creation a quality of earthly charm and pleasure and turns this painting into a masterpiece.

This description by Kiranjyot.