7. Art under Shahjahan

Instead of the art of painting, architecture was Shahjahan's fascination. But, he continued with the court atelier and Mughals' cult of realism. Well-embellished portraits with exact likeness of the portrayed figures were more favored. On one of his portraits Shahjahan not only made his signatures but also put a remark acclaiming that the portrait represented his likeness in perfect exactness.

The emphasis was now on court scenes, scenes of outing, portrayal including female portraits and other personalized things and occasions but the approach was the same 'realistic'. One does not find in the art of Shahjahan a battle fought but a lot about the lavish life style, how people lived, loved and enjoyed life. This is well to be expected since Shahjahan inherited the largest accumulated wealth ever in the Mughal lineage, and no emperor before or after him ever had bestowed upon him a richer legacy.