Mosque of Altamsh, Delhi

1866

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

Mosque of Altamsh, Delhi 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 of the Mosque of Altamsh in Delhi, sunlight slanting across worn stone arches and a small dome in the distance. Rousselet drew this while traveling India in the 1860s, but he worried his sketches weren’t enough. So he learned photography there and started taking pictures of the same places. The lines in this drawing feel like a photo—sharp, still, and full of light. Look up the technique called *chiaroscuro* to see how light and shadow work in pictures like this.

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.