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Creator:
Robert Smith, 1787–1873
Title:
The Kila Kona Masjid, Purana Qila, Delhi
Date:
ca. 1823
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
29 1/2 x 41 3/4 inches (74.9 x 106 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1976.7.74
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
arches | caves | costume | domes | fort | genre subject | journey | landscape | men | monument | mosque | path | road | rocks (landforms) | ruins | worship
Associated Places:
Delhi | India
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:307
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IIIF Manifest:
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The Kila Kona Masjid, or mosque, is located within the walls of the "'old fort"' [Purana Qila] in Delhi. The artist of this view, Robert Smith, was charged with the preservation of this and other historic structures during the 1820s. In keeping with his archaeological interests, Smith presents the mosque as the top layer of a composition that exposes the crumbling caves beneath the structure. Smith likewise depicts various strata of Indian society, including worshipers entering the mosque, and others preparing for a journey by elephant.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005

Company Culture (Yale Center for British Art, 2003-09-16 - 2004-01-05) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

C. A. Bayly, The Raj, India and the British, 1600-1947 , National Portrait Gallery, London, 1990, pp. 147-8, fig. 24, DS428 R25 1990 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 208-209, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Martina Droth, Britain in the world : Highlights from the Yale Center for British Art in honor of Amy Meyers, Yale University Press, New Haven, London, p. 118, N6761 .Y33 2019 (LC) (YCBA) [YCBA]

John McAleer, Picturing India People, Places, and the World of the East India Company, The British Library, London, p. 113, fig. 3.26, N8214.5.I5 M43 2017 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Morna O'Neill, Company Culture:, British Artists and the East India Company 1770-1830: October 16, 2003-January 11, 2004 , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2003, no. 10, V 1199 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Romita Ray, Under the banyan tree, relocating the picturesque in British India , The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, pp. 210-14, fig. 93, N8214.5.I5 R39 2013 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Stuart Cary Welch, The British view of India, selected English paintings from the Paul Mellon collection , American Federation of Arts, New York, 1978, N8214.5 I5 B75 1978 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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