Shimla. View from Oakover House
1866
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1866
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Shimla. View from Oakover House is a 1866 by Samuel Bourne, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a quiet hill town in India, bathed in soft morning light. Houses cling to the slope, their roofs stacked like steps. A few figures walk the winding road, small against the vast green hills. This painting is actually a photograph—one of the first taken in the Himalayas. Bourne lugged heavy glass plates up steep trails to get these views. The image shows the Taj Mahal and other landmarks before modern restorations changed them. To see more early photos of India, look up Samuel Bourne (British, 1834–1912).
