Cleveland Museum of Art

Lord Dufferin and the Supreme Council of Government of India

Date

1887

Medium

albumen print

Culture

India

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Each summer, the British government left the heat of Calcutta for Shimla in the foothills of the Himalayas, where this photograph was taken. In 1885, Deen Dayal began spending his summers there to be near the officials, who were both subjects and clients. The viceroy, or British ruler, of India, Frederick Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (1826–1902), sits at the center of this staged meeting of the Supreme Council. Deen Dayal made images of Lord Dufferin and his wife, herself an amateur photographer, that led to his appointment as photographer to the viceroy, which resulted in access to other members of the British elite.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.