I'timad-ud-Daula's Tomb at Agra
1820
watercolor
paper
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
1820
watercolor
paper
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
I'timad-ud-Daula's Tomb at Agra is a 1820 watercolor by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a white marble tomb glowing under a pale sky, its walls covered in tiny colored stones and lacy screens. This tomb was built by a Mughal empress for her father, a man who started as a poor traveler and became the emperor’s top advisor. The artist used watercolor to show every inlaid flower and vine—each piece of stone cut and polished like a gem. To see how watercolor can make stone look soft and alive, look up the technique glazing.
This architectural rendering of a magnificent tomb at Agra provides an accurate depiction of the semiprecious stones inlaid in white marble, a technique known as pietra dura, and the carved white marble jali screens of the mausoleum built by the Mughal empress Nur Jahan (1577–1645). She commissioned this building in honor of her father, Mirza Ghiyas Beg, who rose to become the prime minister under the emperor Jahangir (reigned 1605–27) and held the exalted title I’timad-ud-Daula (Pillar of the Empire). The powerful Nur Jahan had immense financial resources at her disposal. Built between 1622…
Read the full account in the museum source.
