The Taj Mahal (c. 1858–62): Art, History and Details

The Taj Mahal (c. 1858–62) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Dr. John Murray (Scottish, 1809–1898).

The work and its context

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

This view of the Taj Mahal, shot from the bank of the Yamuna River, offers a dramatic contrast between the seemingly perfect white marble monument in the background and dark, ruined structures in the foreground. It sets the Taj into a broader geographic and cultural context by including nature (the river) and two cultures, one that has crumbled and another that, because it approaches aesthetic perfection, has been carefully preserved.

Object facts

• Title: The Taj Mahal
• Date: c. 1858–62
• Creator attribution: Dr. John Murray (Scottish, 1809–1898)
• Culture: England
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print
• Dimensions: Image: 43.2 x 38.4 cm (17 x 15 1/8 in.)
• Collection: PH - British 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2022.10

A detail from the museum

The Taj Mahal is a monument to lost love, built by Shah Jahan in 1632–53 to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Christie’s South Kensington, Friday, May 5, 2000

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.