Steam Engine near the Grand Transept, Crystal Palace

Philip Henry Delamotte

National Gallery of Art

This is a photograph of an industrial scene inside a large construction site. The image shows a partially constructed building supported by metal beams and scaffolding. The interior is covered in construction materials, with piles of lumber and debris scattered across the ground. Central to the image is heavy machinery, with steam rising from it. The environment is busy with intersecting lines of the scaffolding and beams, showcasing the complexity of the construction work involved. The sepia tones suggest an early 20th-century setting.