Exhibition Catalog Captain Linnaeus Tripe
Roger Taylor, Crispin Branfoot, with Sarah Greenough and Malcolm Daniel

AudioIntroduction to the Exhibition, lecture by Sarah Greenough, exhibition curator

Audio Symposium Lecture Part 1: ''A Glorious Galaxy of Monuments': Photography and the Archaeological Survey of India after Tripe," John Falconer

Audio Symposium Lecture Part 2: "Interpreting Early Photography in India: Medium and Method," Zahid R. Chaudhary

Audio Symposium Lecture Part 3: "Measuring Time: Linnaeus Tripe’s Inscription of the Thanjavur Temple, 1858," Maria Antonella Pelizzari

PDF Download Public Symposium Program

Linnaeus Tripe in the Collection of the National Gallery of Art

Photographs Conservation

Press Release

Exhibition Checklist

Early Work in England

Unknown artist, “Major Halkett’s Camera,” c. 1853, woodcut illustration, published in Marcus Sparling, Practical Chemistry (London: Houlston & Stoneman, 1856), p. 135. Private Collection

Born into an upper-middle-class family in Devonport, England, Tripe joined the British East India Company in 1839 and was assigned to the 12th Madras Native Infantry. Following several years of deployment in India, he returned to Devonport in 1851 for an extended home leave. There he discovered photography and began to make his first pictures, probably in 1852. Unlike most beginners, Tripe bought a camera that made large, 12-by-15-inch negatives, similar in design to the one pictured at left. In 1853 he also joined the Photographic Society of London, where he met and shared valuable information with other amateurs.

His first photographs reveal both his rigorous, disciplined approach and his desire to record subjects of importance to the military, such as dockyards, ships undergoing repairs, and breakwaters. This focus distinguishes his work from that of most other members of the Photographic Society, who preferred more picturesque subjects, such as landscapes or genre scenes.

Early Work in England

Gun Wharf — Devonport, 1852–1854
Wilson Centre for Photography, London

When Tripe made this picture, Great Britain was preparing to go to war against Russia in the Crimea. The pyramids of cannon balls seen here had been returned to shore after a time at sea, where their surfaces had become corroded in the wet, briny atmosphere. A small pile of clean, shiny cannon balls lies before the seated man on the left, while all around in stark geometric piles stand reminders of the work ahead.

Early Work in England

Lighthouse Breakwater, 1852–1854 or 1861–1862
Janet Dewan

In 1812, when construction began on the Plymouth Breakwater seen in Tripe’s photograph, it was the largest, most ambitious marine engineering project of its time. A mile long and made of 3,768,879 tons of stone, it took 38 years to complete. When finished, the breakwater allowed 40 battleships and numerous merchant vessels to anchor safely in its shelter. The plunging perspective in Tripe’s picture emphasizes the project’s massive scale.

Early Work in England

Quarterdeck of HMS “Impregnable,” 1852–1854
National Gallery of Art, Washington, The Sarah and William L Walton Fund, Diana and Mallory Walker Fund and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation through Robert and Joyce Menschel, 2010.72.1

In this boldly composed picture, Tripe positioned his camera to accentuate the huge timbers of the ship’s main mast and yardarm. He may have done so because they had been the site of an execution. On May 12, 1853, Thomas Chown was hanged from the yardarm of this ship after he was found guilty of striking a superior officer while drunk on parade.

Early Work in England

Installation view

Next: Return to India