Linnaeus Tripe

The official photographer to the Madras government, Linnaeus Tripe documented much of south India. This photograph shows Nandi, sacred animal of the Hindu god Shiva, at the entrance to the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur. Because of the bull’s affiliation with fertility, it has been visited and anointed by pilgrims for hundreds of years, and Tripe’s record emphasizes the smooth surface of the stone.

Tripe’s interest in photography’s descriptive and expressive possibilities is evident in this composition, which carefully considers the sightline while capturing the pattern of rich darks and lights made by the structure, the trees, and the shadows.

The photographic boom at the end of the 19th century reached the masses chiefly by way of portraiture. Case photography—unique photographs whose fragile surfaces were enclosed in velvet, metal, and glass within leather, rubber, or plastic cases—was the first type of portraiture most families owned.

Technological competition, including the drive to make photography more affordable to both makers and buyers, led to the invention of the succession of processes represented here.

Please note that dates refer to major use of the processes in the 19th century. Many of these processes were used by photographers well into the 20th century and are still employed today.