Hindola ki Ragani Todi, ca. 1600 (Cambridge, Fogg Museum of Art)

Drawn to Akbar's court either by the lure of patronage or as the human loot of Akbar's conquests, the Indian artists belonged to three major groups: (1) painters from the Hindu courts of Rajputana, (2) artists - patronized by the sultans - whose work consisted of Indianized versions of Islamic styles, and (3) painters associated with the Jain communities, who worked in the so-called Western Indian style. Shown here is a scene by a Rajput artist, with a woman and a group of deer set against a luxuriant background of palms and golden sky. The Rajput style was characterized by a decorative flatness, the use of bright colours, and rough but expressive brushwork