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 Explore the Later Mughal paintings The album leaves in this presentation were commissioned by emperors and nobles of the Mughal dynasty during the period of declining Mughal imperial power. This decline was precipitous after the beginning of the 18th century and final with the installation by the British of Queen Victoria as Empress of India in 1858. Later Mughal painting, like earlier Mughal painting, was closely tied to reflections of imperial grandeur. In the period of decline, however, Mughal painting tells a story of changing fortunes, hope and gloom, power politics, and poignant human dramas in the waning light of empire. The Binney Collection's later Mughal holdings are one of its strengths and confirm that the period deserves more attention than it has received. During the first two centuries of Mughal rule, from 1526 to the beginning of the 18th century, Mughal emperors (with roots in Central Asia and the Islamic faith) forged a well-administered and centrally controlled state in largely Hindu India. Authority in the arts also emanated from the imperial center. The "Great Mughals" of the 16th and 17th centuries sponsored lavish building projects, exquisite workmanship in the decorative arts, and painting for manuscripts and albums that attracted the finest artists in the realm to work in the imperial ateliers. The cohesive formulation of styles at the Mughal court came to an end, however, when the sixth emperor, Aurangzeb, at the end of the 17th century disbanded the court workshops in the name of Muslim orthodoxy. From this time forward, Mughal painting increasingly reflected the decentralization of both power and patronage. After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the center weakened further under divisive fratricidal wars of succession. The Afghans took territories in the northwest. The Marathas moved from the southwest into the heartland of Mughal revenue-bearing lands, while the newly militarized faith of the Sikhs led them to oppose religious oppression by the Mughals in the north. Sensing weakness at the center, Hindu rajas in the Panjab plains and hill states, nominally ruling under Mughal authority, seized territories and advanced their clan-based interests. A crushing blow was delivered by the Persian adventurer Nadir Shah in 1739 when he sacked Delhi and carried off the jewel-encrusted Peacock Throne (among other prime emblems of Mughal authority and wealth). Mughal power was disbursed to provincial capitals at Lucknow, Faizabad and Murishidabad. Rich and powerful Muslim kingdoms in the Deccan, always troublesome for the Mughals, operated with near independence. And most significantly for the Mughals, the commercial, military, and political influence of the British was extended from their base in Bengal throughout the sub-continent. Later Mughal patrons continued to favor the hallmark of early Mughal style—engagement with the visible world—however, the visible world was no longer a reflection of Mughal dominion, but rather a record of its demise. The gap between the sense of entitlement of Mughal rulers and their actual circumstances is most evident in portraiture, as artists struggled to give the imperial presence its former glory, resorting in some cases to allegory and in others to mere nostalgia.
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