Mausoleum of Rajah Buktawur, Ulwur

1866

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

Mausoleum of Rajah Buktawur, Ulwur is a 1866 by Louis-Théophile Marie Rousselet, a Impressionism work, 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

You see a quiet courtyard with a domed tomb at its center, sunlight cutting sharp shadows across the stone. Rousselet drew this while traveling in India in the 1860s. He worried his sketches weren’t enough, so he taught himself photography there—unusual for a French traveler at the time. The tomb is real: it stands in Alwar, Rajasthan. To see how photography changed travel art, look up *The Cleveland Museum of Art*.

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.