Engraving by S. Prout: Kylas, Caves of Ellora

Cliff face has been carved into a temple front, and three visitors admire it.

This engraving is from England, United Kingdom, and dates to the mid 19th century. It is ink on paper. Printmaking carried enthusiasm for the Orient beyond a small circle of patrons, because publishers and artists produced illustrated books on travel and religion that could be distributed affordably to all classes. Thick with gnarled trees at left, a rocky hillside opens onto a wall of carved columns and figures cut straight from the rock. Small figures in turbans walk the open ground beneath. A three-line caption in capitals sits under the plate mark. It is 10.8 inches wide and 8.2 high.

Someone spent years on this facade, and the line work shows it.