The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 4, 2026

A horizontally oriented albumen print depicts an elevated view of a city landscape in sepia tones. Dense, dark trees fill the foreground, while tiled-roof buildings cluster around courtyards in the middle ground. On the left, a rounded white tower crowns a wooded hill. To the right, a flat plain recedes toward a hazy horizon. Faded markings appear in the top corners against a pale, expansive sky.

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

October 29, 1860
photographer

Felice A. Beato

(British, 1832–1909)
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
albumen print
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.)
John L. Severance Fund 2026.58
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.
  • -October 8, 2026
    Stephan Loewentheil, New York, NY, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art
    October 8, 2026-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=View of the Gardens and Bhuddist [sic] Temple of Pekin|url=false|author=Felice A. Beato|year=October 29, 1860|access-date=04 November 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2026.58