The Mausoleum of Akbar at Secundrabad (early 1800s): Art, History and Details

The Mausoleum of Akbar at Secundrabad (early 1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Before the invention of photography, British travelers in India collected watercolor sketches of monuments and picturesque scenes. This tomb near Agra marks the burial place of one of India’s most illustrious rulers, the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542–1605). In reality it is dominating in scale and ornamented with complex geometric and floral motifs articulated in multicolored stone inlays, relief carvings, and paintings. In this sketch, the site has been rendered in the muted tones that appealed to British taste of the time, and its ornament has been reduced and simplified, giving little indication of its grandeur.

Object facts

• Title: The Mausoleum of Akbar at Secundrabad
• Date: early 1800s
• Culture: India, Company School, early 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: watercolor on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 45.7 x 60.3 cm (18 x 23 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1983.115

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Ward in memory of his parents, Lura and Edward Ward

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.