South Façade of the Quadrangle of the Nayak Darbar Hall, Thanjavur (1858): Art, History and Details

South Façade of the Quadrangle of the Nayak Darbar Hall, Thanjavur (1858) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Captain Linnaeus Tripe (British, 1822–1902).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Early box cameras had no shutter; the photographer just removed and replaced the lens cap, guessing at how long to leave it off. Linnaeus Tripe’s mastery of light and exposure here is incredible. The print allows us to read the decoration that is in shadow as well as that in full sunlight.

Object facts

• Title: South Façade of the Quadrangle of the Nayak Darbar Hall, Thanjavur
• Date: 1858
• Creator attribution: Captain Linnaeus Tripe (British, 1822–1902)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumenized salt print
• Dimensions: Image: 27.7 x 34.2 cm (10 7/8 x 13 7/16 in.); Image with black margin: 27.7 x 36.1 cm (10 7/8 x 14 3/16 in.); Paper: 27.7 x 36.1 cm (10 7/8 x 14 3/16 in.)
• Collection: PH - British 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2020.213

A detail from the museum

This assembly hall is an important example of the Islamic influences brought by the Nayaks to South Indian architecture in the 1600s.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Dewan, Janet, and Linnaeus Tripe. The Photographs of Linnaeus Tripe: A Catalogue Raisonné. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2003.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.