{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O131231"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O131231/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM0080/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM0080/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM0080","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O131231/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O131231","accessionNumber":"IS.46:9-1889","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Remains of the Fort at Palkod","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Linnaeus Tripe (1822–1902) documented much of south India as official photographer to the Madras government (1856–1860). Tripe set off on a tour from Bangalore on 14 December 1857. He travelled through the Salem district  to Srirangam, Tiruchchirappalli, Madurai, then Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, and Tiruchchirappalli again and ended his tour in Madras on 30 April 1858.\r\n\r\nThis photograph is part of the album he produced of Ryacotta, or Royacottah, and the Salem district. This is an extract of the accompanying text published with the image in 1860: ‘This old fort is situated in the Darampuri Taluq in the Baramahl Division of the Salem District. It is said to have been built by Kempa Razu while the territory was under the Mysore Government…As represented the fort is now a complete ruin. Every where throughout India the memory of past dynasties is passing into oblivion, and the traditions of by gone days have little interest for the people…’","physicalDescription":"This black and white photograph shows a worn down fort, with trees to the left, and patches of vegetation on the ground.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Tripe, Linnaeus","id":"A6257"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"albumen process","id":"AAT133274"},{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Albumen print from waxed paper (calotype) negative","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2007BM0080"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES403838"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}],[{"text":"photograph albums","id":"AAT26695"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Royacottah","id":"x40323"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"December 1857 to January 1858","earliest":"1857-12-01","latest":"1858-01-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1860","earliest":"1860-01-01","latest":"1860-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Lady Denison","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"243","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"photographic print","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"353","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"photographic print","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"452","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"album page","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"574","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"album page","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'photographer to government'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Tripe's blindstamp is on the lower centre of the mount."}],"objectHistory":"This photograph was given by Lady Denison in 1889 during the keepership of Caspar Purdon Clarke, Keeper of the Indian Section of the V&A. It was written off in 1937, and rediscovered and re-evaluated in the 1990s. See Dewan p.377 for listings of other copies elsewhere.\r\nThis photograph was published as plate VIII of ten in the album <u>Photographic Views of Ryacotta and other places in the Salem District</u> 1858, by 'Captain L. Tripe, Government Photographer, Madras Presidency, With Descriptive Notes by J. A. C. Boswell', published in 1860. It was taken as part of Tripe's remit as the government photographer, which he himself defined broadly, as recording, ‘before they disappear’ buildings, sculptures and inscriptions…' including the picturesque. This was a model for an extensive survey, including tuition of others and experimentation in his own practice. He was funded by the Madras government, but intended selling additional copies of some prints so that his practice could be self-funding. This print was published with the following accompanying text (an extract follows):\r\n‘This old fort is situated in the Darampuri Taluq in the Baramahl Division of the Salem District. It is said to have been built by Kempa Razu while the territory was under the Mysore Government…As represented the fort is now a complete ruin. Every where throughout India the memory of past dynasties is passing into oblivion, and the traditions of by gone days have little interest for the people…’\n\nHistorical significance: Tripe's photographs of South India are an important body of work within Tripe's oeuvre, and are recognised as being some of the most aesthetically and technically competent images of India made in the 19th century.\r\nTripe entered as total of 50 photographs from his 1857–8 tour of South India in the 1859 annual exhibition of the Madras Photographic Society. The jury dubbed his photographs ‘the best in the Exhibition’ but as Tripe could not be classed an amateur, he could not win the gold medal. Tripe declined the silver medal amicably, since he considered that as an official photographer he had an unfair advantage over the other entrants. \r\nTripe’s photographs were valued for their informational value and their technical quality. The adjudicating committee stated that Tripe’s photographs ‘illustrate admirably the architecture of the Hindoo Temples and Places of Southern India, and in particular the Madura and Tanjore series comprise in this respect all that is most worthy of record in those cities.’ (See Dewan, p.16). Forty-six of Tripe’s 50 exhibited images were made from paper (calotype) negatives, which the committee didn't feel were as successful as dry collodion-on-glass negatives, however, declaring that ‘the superiority of definition given by Collodion [-on-glass] is very visible when placed side by side with them.’ It is thought that Tripe prefered paper to glass negatives due to paper being easier and safer to work with.","historicalContext":"<b>The southern districts tour and Madras presidency photographs, 1857–58</b>\r\nThe Madras government appointed Tripe as photographer following the 1855 directive from the Court of Directors in London, who discouraged illustration in favour of ‘photography as a means by which representations may be obtained of scenes and buildings, with the advantages of perfect accuracy, small expenditure of time, and moderate cash’, and asked that photography be the main means of recording architecture and antiquities (Dewan, p.6).  \r\n\r\nAs official photographer to the Madras Government, Tripe set off from Bangalore on 14 December 1857 after delays due to waiting for modifications to his new English camera, and his recovery after falling from a horse. He ended his tour in Madras on 30 April 1858 after travelling via Srirangam, Tiruchchirappalli, Madurai, then Pudukkottai, Tanjore, and Tiruchchirappalli again (then called Seeringham, Trichinopoly, Madura, Poodoocottah and Tanjore). \r\n\r\nAll of these areas had been forcefully taken under British rule in the previous one hundred years, but Tripe looked for scenes or subjects with architectural or antiquarian interest rather than political significance. He had wanted to ensure his images were practical too: before he had set out he had asked the chief engineer for guidance on what would be most useful from an engineering perspective, and incorporated this input into his work.","briefDescription":"Photograph, No. VIII 'Remains of the Fort at Palkod', from the photograph album by Capt. Linnaeus Tripe, 'Photographic Views of Ryacotta'; South India, 1858","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Dewan, Janet. <u>The Photographs of Linnaeus Tripe: A Catalogue Raisonné.</u> Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2003, p.377."}],"production":"Edition number unknown. The album of which this photograph is part was one of probably 40 copies to have been produced.\n\nAttribution note: The V&A has another copy of this album (bound) in the National Art Library, pressmark 104.N. The Royal Photographic Society holds the waxed paper negative.\nReason For Production: Commission","productionType":{"text":"Limited edition","id":"THES48862"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Royacottah","id":"x40323"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"fort","id":"AAT6909"},{"text":"tree","id":"x37637"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IS.46:9-1889"],"accessionNumberNum":"46","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1889,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-21","recordCreationDate":"2007-02-01","availableToBook":true}}