Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000351Great Pagoda, Great Bull, Front View, Tanjore, India (Rajarajeshvara Temple), plate 12 from Photographic Views of Tanjore and Trivady (Madras: Madras Presidency)
Also known as: Great Pagoda, Great Bull, Front View, Tanjore, India (Rajarajesvara Temple)
About the Artwork
In a pillared pavilion called a mandapa, a colossal stone sculpture of Nandi, the mount of the Hindu god Shiva, faces the doorway to the main temple sanctum. The inner wall and section of the great gateway leading into the sacred site can be seen in the background of Tripe’s photograph. As an active Indian temple, the plinth, or base, of the pavilion is painted with alternating red and white stripes. Tripe, however, opted not to include any living presence in the image, since humans and animals might move and create a blur, spoiling his clear photographic record of the monument.
Inscriptions
Written in pencil on verso: "The Great Bull of Tangore"; "IC25"
Provenance
?–1987: (Stephen White Gallery of Photography, Los Angeles, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1987–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988). Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). Travel Photography: Early Images of India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 2-July 17, 2002). Indian Gallery 242b Rotation – November 2017-April 2018. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 10, 2017-April 16, 2018). Temples and Worship in South Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14, 2024-March 9, 2025).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Captain Linnaeus Tripe (British, 1822–1902)
- Date
- 1857
- Medium
- salted paper print from calotype negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 27.2 x 38 cm (10 11/16 x 14 15/16 in.); Paper: 28 x 39.1 cm (11 x 15 3/8 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1987.218
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West and South Sides of the Vimana Walls, Great Temple (Brihadeshvara) at Tanjore (Thanjavur)
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Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
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Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
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Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
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Open-access museum record · AT-00000351
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