Muhammad Afzal was a master 18th-century court painter who flourished during the late Mughal artistic revival under Emperor Muhammad Shah. Active from roughly 1730 to 1780, he transitioned from the imperial workshops of Delhi to the regional provincial court of Lucknow. His signature style is defined by naturalistic portraits with softly rounded faces, innovative uses of light and shadow, and central figures poised on vast, luminous white marble terraces. He specialized in private, atmospheric courtly life, frequently depicting elite women, seasonal poetry, and midnight encounters with religious mystics