Elevation of the front of the mausoleum of the Emperor Akbar at Sikandra near Agra. A riot of arches, domes and columns. The central archway is elaborately decorated in patterned tiles. Colours used: brick red, blue, white, green, brown - 1816.

This Company painting is from a portfolio of drawings by Delhi artists working in Calcutta. They were commissioned by Colonel Pownell Phipps, Superintendent and Inspector of Public Buildings, Calcutta, 1816-1822, and were presented to the Museum by his son, Colonel Ramsay W. Phipps. The pictures are clearly copies of earlier standard paintings that the artists had brought with them to Calcutta as models. This one shows the front elevation of the mausoleum completed in 1616 at Sikandra near Agra to house the remains of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556-1605).

source: V&A, London