Colonnades of Pirthi Raj, Delhi

1866

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century Column

Dominant colour

Colonnades of Pirthi Raj, Delhi is a 1866 by Louis-Théophile Marie Rousselet, a Impressionism work, depicting Column, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Louis-Théophile Marie Rousselet
When & what style?: 1866 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Sunlight slants across tall stone arches in an old Delhi palace. The shadows are sharp, almost like cut paper. Rousselet drew this while traveling in India, but he worried his sketches didn’t show the real beauty of the place. So he learned photography there—something few Europeans did at the time. This image is from a book of his work, mixing drawing and early photos. If you like quiet light on old buildings, look up the subject of france, 19th century.

The story of this work

Overview

Concerned that his drawings did not do justice to the splendor of India’s monuments, Rousselet learned photography in India that year, a remarkable accomplishment. He proved to be a talented photographer with a sophisticated sense of composition. The scenes in this volume sweep across sites of Sultanate, Rajput, and Mughal power in northern India, from the sacred Hindu city of Varanasi on the Ganges River to Alwar in Rajasthan. Also included are several scenes of industry and portraits of Indian rulers.