The Taj Mahal – mausoleum built by Sultan Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal – is a great architectural object of the 17th century. The artist considered it to be “one of the most splendid buildings in the world” and repeatedly depicted it from various angles and under different light conditions. Vereshchagin studied the lifestyle of the countries that he visited. The specific feature of his painting style is supreme, photographic accuracy of depiction. He uses bright, clear colours so that the whiteness and transparency of the marble looks especially impressive against the “fiery sky of the South” (as Russian poets liked to say). The Orient here is presented as a world of magic and miracles.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow