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The Mughal Dynasty is a line of Muslim emperors who reigned in India from 1526 to 1858. Babur, the first Mughal emperor, was a descendant of the Turkish conqueror Timur on his father's side and of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan on his mother's side. He invaded India from Afghanistan and founded the Mughal Empire on the ruin of Delhi. From 1526 until 1638, when Babur defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, the ruler of Delhi and established himself in neighboring Agra, Agra was a repository for all the wealth and talent of one of the most extensive empires in the medieval world. Delhi was built as the Capital of Mughal Empire by Babu's great-great-grandson Shah Jehan.
Shah Jehan created Taj Mahal in Agra and it is the greatest tribute to all the women in the world. The many elements that led to the creation of the Taj Mahal had their roots in the reigns of earlier monarchs: Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jehan, Aurangzeb, each of whom contributed his particular aesthetic interests and endeavours to the establishment of what we have subsequently called the Mughal Style, a style which blended the Persian patterns brought by the Mughals with the indigenous genius for fine Indian craftsmanship.
The Mughal paintings that are featured in this section are a good example of Mughal Style. They have a strong and clearly expressed content. The brilliantly illustrated paintings glow as if illuminated from inside. The bold contrasts of red, blue, green and yellow owes a lot to native influence. During, Jehangir's (Akbar's son) reign, this art became more refined smaller in scale and lighter in palette. From historical chronicles, these paintings turned towards the representation of nature in all its glory. Paintings from this period are lyrical in style and often depict animals, birds, trees, flowers and portraits with great fidelity to the subject, without losing any of the artistic flow of the earlier age.
These paintings are any connoisseur's delight. At the same time, often the most refined artistic sensibilities were combined with complete indifference to the implications of the subject.
