Beggars at the Gate of a Temple, Canton

John Thomson

ca. 1869 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

From 1868 to 1872, Thomson assembled his masterful documentation of China, published after he returned to Britain as Foochow and the River Min (1873) and the four-volume Illustrations of China and Its People (1873-74). Thomson's extensive travels took him throughout the Foochow region, on a three-thousand mile journey along the Yangzi, and to the western plains of Taiwan and the southern port cities of Canton and Hong Kong, often with his dog as his only companion. His subjects varied extensively as well, from peasants to royalty and rural villages to grand palaces.

Artist

John Thomson

Date

ca. 1869

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Robert Rosenkranz Gift, 2005