Art imitating life...Or is it the other way around?

[Stan S.]

Recently, I began to develop an interest in Indian miniature paintings (a. k. a. illuminations). Many are produced to this day for the tourist trade but I am intrigued by the actual period paintings because they often provide a valuable insight on various Indo Persian weapons/armaments and their use. In my research I stumbled upon these two items that are painted in distinctly different styles, yet appear to commemorate the same event - I lion hunt by the Moghul ruler Jahangir sometime in the first half of the 17th century. The first one is owned by a museum in Canada, the 2nd was auctioned off by Christies some time ago. What struck me as note worthy is that they appear to depict the same event as viewed by two different people. There are just too many details that are similar to be rulled out as a coincidence. Of course there is always a possibility that one was deliberately painted to resemble the other... I wonder how accurate may these actually be?