Fernando Botero (b. 1932) is a painter, sculptor, and draftsman who depicts the comedy of human life -- moving or wry, baroque in expression, sometimes with a mocking observation, sometimes with a deep, elementary emotion ...
Muraqqa': IMPERIAL MUGHAL ALBUMS from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
Among the most remarkable of all albums ever created are those made in the years 1600-1657 for the emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The Mughal dynasty ruled India for more than three centuries, but the period of greatest artistic production was that of these two great emperors, and the albums of paintings and calligraphy (called muraqqa’ in Persian) that they assembled now serve as a window to understanding the history and culture of this part of the world. The paintings in the albums, drawn from the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, include formal portraits of the emperors themselves, depictions of members of the royal family in relaxed private settings, portraits of courtiers, Sufi saints and mystics, genre scenes, and natural history subjects – a rich mélange of subjects that allow us to enter the world of these great rulers.
Support for the national tour and catalogue has been provided by The Annenberg Foundation, Culture Ireland, The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
