Hoyshaleshvara Temple Sculpture, Halebidu (Halebeedu)

Description

On the recommendation of a friend, Oakeley marched 20 days along treacherous country roads to locate the Hoyshaleshvara Temple in southwestern India. Finding it more beautiful than any other building he had seen in southern India, he framed his subject to capture a sense of the lavish number of vivid sculptures that enliven the temple's walls.

At the right is the Hindu god Shiva with his wife, the goddess Parvati, seated on his mount, the bull Nandi. At the left, Shiva and Parvati are seated on Mount Kailasha, which a multiarmed demon is attempting to dislodge.

Provenance

(Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–2001); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2001–)

Hoyshaleshvara Temple Sculpture, Halebidu (Halebeedu)

Richard Banner Oakeley

1856–57

Accession Number

2001.152

Medium

albumenized salt print from waxed paper negative

Dimensions

Image: 27.2 x 29.2 cm (10 11/16 x 11 1/2 in.); Mounted: 35.3 x 44.4 cm (13 7/8 x 17 1/2 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)

Classification

Photograph

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund