Sher Shah’s Mausoleum, Sasaram
- Artist: Thomas Daniell
- Date: 1810
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 972 x 1359 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the “Sher Shah’s Mausoleum, Sasaram” by Thomas Daniell, painted in 1810. The canvas is a sweeping view of the grand tomb of Sher Shah Suri, the 16th‑century Afghan ruler who briefly held sway over northern India. The structure rises in the dusty plain of Sasaram, Bihar, its tall minarets and sweeping dome framed by a soft, misty landscape that gives the scene a quiet, almost ethereal feel.
Daniell, along with his nephew William, journeyed to India in the 1790s, sketching the country’s most iconic sights. This painting was completed back in England after they returned, and it was first shown at the Royal Academy in London the same year. For British audiences of the time, it offered a sort of “armchair tourism” – a way to see the exotic architecture of India without leaving home.
The work is oil on canvas, about 38 ¼ by 53 ½ inches, and it helped shape Victorian attitudes toward Indian architecture, bridging two very different worlds with a single, luminous image.
See it in person
Sher Shah’s Mausoleum, Sasaram is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
