The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 4, 2026

A horizontally oriented sepia albumen print depicts a wide stone wall receding from the foreground toward the left horizon. Five tall, vertical poles with circular rings stand in a row on square bases along the wall’s center, flanked by small tents. A crenellated edge borders the right side, while tiled rooftops cluster below on the left. The scene is cast in warm, muted tones under a pale, hazy sky.

Top of the Wall from Anting Gate, Pekin, taken possession by English and French Troops, October 21

1860
photographer

Felice A. Beato

(British, 1832–1909)
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
albumen print
Image: 24.5 x 29 cm (9 5/8 x 11 7/16 in.); Mount: 36.9 x 41.8 cm (14 1/2 x 16 7/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2026.59
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=Top of the Wall from Anting Gate, Pekin, taken possession by English and French Troops, October 21|url=false|author=Felice A. Beato|year=1860|access-date=04 November 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2026.59