Fatehpur Sikri, Birbal's Palace, India

Lockwood de Forest's oil study captures the sandstone palace complex at Fatehpur Sikri with precise architectural attention. The central structure displays characteristic Mughal design: projecting cornices, elaborate stone brackets, and paired domes crowned with finials. De Forest, an American designer and painter who traveled extensively in India, rendered the ochre buildings against pale sky and sandy ground with subtle gradations of tone. His documentary approach—studying historical structures across the subcontinent—informed his later decorative arts practice and contributed to nineteenth-century visual knowledge of Indian architecture among Western audiences.