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Western Gateway (Gopuram) of the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple, Madurai
Captain Linnaeus Tripe (British, 1822–1902)
1858
- Medium
- albumenized salt print
- Classification
- Photograph
- Dimensions
- Image: 38 x 30.2 cm (14 15/16 x 11 7/8 in.); Image with black margin: 39.5 x 31.2 cm (15 9/16 x 12 5/16 in.); Paper: 39.5 x 31.2 cm (15 9/16 x 12 5/16 in.)
- Culture
- England, 19th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Photography
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Kids profiles and older: it shows nature, places, still life or a children's book. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This photograph features part of the same temple complex seen in the panoramic collage by Masumi Hayashi CMA 2015.95. Initially established during the 1100s, it was expanded on multiple occasions over the next 500 years. The addition of a series of enclosure walls included gateways topped by towering superstructures ornamented with miniature temples and images of deities. The monochrome monumentality of Tripe’s early photographic image, purposefully devoid of human activity, gives the impression of a timeless wonder. He would have had to clear the scene of worshipers and onlookers to achieve the pristine effect.
