The architecture depicted in paintings of the Mughal emperors plays a signi+icant role in reflecting the changing fortunes of a dynasty across two and a half centuries, from the sixteenth to the mid eighteenth century. Some aspects of the structures relate to those in the real world, occasionally providing invaluable information about the appearance of buildings that have long since been destroyed. More often, the architecture is a crucial part of an allegorical setting that projects a carefully contrived imperial image. Towards the end of Mughal rule, it delineates the enclosed world of a court that had become powerless.

Source

From The Image of Mughal Architecture in Heritage of the Mughal World (Philip Jodidio, editor)