FARRUKH BEG

flourished 17th century, , India outstanding Mughal painter, praised by the Indian Mughal emperor Jahangir as unrivaled in the age. A Kalmyk of Central Asia, Farrukh Beg first worked at Kabul under Mirza Hakim, the half brother of the Mughal emperor Akbar. After Hakim died Farrukh Beg joined Akbar's service (1585). His earliest paintings are strongly Persian in character, and he continued to be a conservative painter, not modifying his style to any considerable extent in the new environment. Several features of his later paintingsthe large plants, colour scheme, and treatment of draperyhave suggested that he might have spent some years in the Deccan.