View of the Gardens and Bhuddist [sic] Temple of Pekin

Album von China

October 29, 1860

photographer

Felice A. Beato

(British, 1832–1909)

Culture

China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

Medium

albumen print

Measurements

Image: 24.5 x 30.2 cm (9 5/8 x 11 7/8 in.); Mount: 37 x 42 cm (14 9/16 x 16 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 2026.58

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Felice Beato was the first photographer to show the human cost of war: the corpses of fallen soldiers.

Description

Beato was invited in February 1860 to travel to China to accompany British troops and photograph the concluding events of the Second Opium War. The works in this album are the earliest images that document the progress of a military campaign through a sequence of dated and related photographs. Part of that story, for Beato, were the corpses of the Chinese soldiers who had been killed by European troops. The album also contains the first photographs of Beijing.