Veddahs of Ceylon
1884
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1884
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see two men standing in a forest clearing, wearing only loincloths tied with rope. This photo-like painting was made by a British studio in Sri Lanka in the 1880s. The Veddah people were the island’s first inhabitants, and this image shows them as outsiders saw them—part of colonial-era travel records, not their own story. The artist never asked their names or lives. To see more 19th-century India, look up *subject: india, 19th century*.
