Cleveland Museum of Art

West and South Sides of the Vimana Walls, Great Temple (Brihadeshvara) at Tanjore (Thanjavur)

Captain Linnaeus Tripe

Date

1858

Medium

albumenized salt print from a waxed paper negative

Culture

England, 19th century

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The double-storied exterior base of one of the largest temples constructed and still standing on the Indian subcontinent is articulated with niches containing images of Hindu gods. Within these walls is an inner sanctum containing a monolithic linga (the phallic emblem marking the sacred presence of the god Shiva). Tripe used waxed paper instead of glass negatives, possibly because he was concerned about breakage and weight. When printing the photograph, he laid the negative on a paper treated with a light-sensitive emulsion of sodium chloride (table salt) and silver nitrate and exposed it to light, to create a “salt print.” This is thought to have been the tallest structure in the world when it was constructed around 1000.

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