Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00013034Maharaja Scindia, Nobles, and High Officials, Gwalior
Also known as: Maharaja of Scindia, nobles, and high officials, Gwalior
About the Artwork
Capturing such a massive group in a single shot was challenging. Deen Dayal’s use of a wide-angle lens, betrayed by the curved distortion of the building’s facade, was rare for him at the time. The young Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior is just right of the composition’s center. The distinctive angled turbans identify Gwalior’s historical allegiance to the Marathas, a Hindu empire that controlled areas of western, central, and southern India from 1674 to 1818. Gwalior had a British liaison starting in 1782 and came under British control in the 1840s. The British officers at the left may have been visiting dignitaries, a common occasion for commissioning a formal group portrait.
Inscriptions
Stamped in black ink on verso: “23.7.F”
Provenance
1887 or 1888: Studio of Raja Deen Dayal, sold to commissioner (identity unknown) 1970s–2015: Walter Clode [1929–2022], Pershore, England, sold or consigned to Prahlad Bubbar Indian and Islamic Art, London, England 2015–16: (Prahlad Bubbar Indian and Islamic Art, London, England), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH December 5, 2016–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Raja Deen Dayal: The King of Indian Photographers. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 23, 2023-February 4, 2024).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Raja Deen Dayal (Indian, 1844–1905)
- Date
- 1887
- Medium
- albumen print
- Dimensions
- Image: 19 x 27.4 cm (7 1/2 x 10 13/16 in.); Paper: 19 x 27.4 cm (7 1/2 x 10 13/16 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Accession no.
- 2016.266.16
More by Raja Deen Dayal in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00013034
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