
Read the visual description
The image shows a decaying adobe structure viewed from ground level. The horizon is not clearly visible due to the dominant wall running horizontally across the image. The wall tilts slightly backward as it extends into the distance. The top of the wall is uneven, with some areas crumbling and supported by wooden ladders. Spiky wooden stakes are placed in the ground, forming a line in the lower part of the image. The color palette is monochromatic with varying shades of sepia, giving the scene a vintage quality. The background sky is a pale tone, contrasting with the rugged texture of the wall and ground in the foreground.
National Gallery of Art · Photograph
Angle of North Taku Fort at Which the French Entered, August 21, 1860
Felice Beato
- Date
- 1860
- Medium
- albumen silver print
- Dimensions
- image: 24.3 × 29.2 cm (9 9/16 × 11 1/2 in.) mount: 25 × 31.4 cm (9 13/16 × 12 3/8 in.)
- Classification
- Photograph
- Accession number
- 2012.137.1.8
- Credit line
- Gift of Michael and Jane Wilson
- Time span
- 1851 to 1875
- Department
- CPH
Portfolio and series
- Volume
- The Second Opium War
Subjects and terms
- British
- albumen silver print
- War
- China
- Fort
- Second Opium War
- military
Provenance
(sale, Christie's, South Kensington, 05 May 2000, lot 302, as The Second Opium War China, 1860); Michael and Jane Wilson, Wilson Centre for Photography, London, acquired 2000; gift to NGA, 2012.
Inscription
on verso of mount, by unknown hand, along top in black ink on paper label: Angle of North Fort at Which the French entered. / 21st Augt 1860.; bottom right in graphite: 00:6693
NGA object ID 163371. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.