RAS question
The Alwar School of painting in Rajasthan includes artists such as Jamnadas, Chhotelal, and Baksuram. This school was influenced by which Mughal-era style?
Correct answer: (A) Late Mughal-Delhi style.
The Alwar School of painting was influenced by the Late Mughal-Delhi style.
Explanation
Alwar is close to Delhi, so the Alwar School absorbed the Late Mughal-Delhi manner rather than a distant regional idiom. Its artists included Jamnadas, Chhotelal and Baksuram, and its 18th-19th century work is marked by refined figures and detailed architectural settings. Christie's supports this Delhi-Mughal connection through Ghulam Ali Khan: it calls him a major figure in the last flowering of the Mughal painting tradition and the Delhi topographical school, notes commissions from regional courts including Alwar, and describes his synthesis of late Mughal aesthetics with architectural topography, naturalistic depth and European-inspired perspective. That is why option A fits the Alwar School's visual vocabulary.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) The Deccan style belongs to a southern artistic sphere, while Alwar's influence comes from its proximity to Delhi and the late Mughal-Delhi idiom.
- (C) Pahari painting is associated with the hill regions of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, not with the Delhi-linked Alwar court tradition.
- (D) Persian elements existed in Mughal painting, but the direct influence identified for Alwar is the Late Mughal-Delhi style, not a separate Persian school.
Concept
This tests the RAS art-and-culture theme of regional Rajasthani painting schools and their external influences. It recurs because Rajasthan schools are often asked through patronage, geography, named artists and stylistic features.