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Winter Trees Reflected in a Pond
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Talbot captured tree branches flawlessly mirrored on the glassy surface of the pond at his family seat, the 13th-century Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. A longer exposure, or a lusher season, would have risked a blurred image. The result was a radically abstract composition for its time—a starkly beautiful landscape, as expressive and personal as any painting.
| Artist / Maker | William Henry Fox Talbot |
|---|---|
| Date | 1841–42 |
| Culture / Origin | England, 19th century |
| Medium | salted paper print from calotype negative |
| Dimensions | Image: 16.4 x 19.1 cm (6 7/16 x 7 1/2 in.); Paper: 19.8 x 24.8 cm (7 13/16 x 9 3/4 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.) |
| Department | Photography |
| Type | Photograph |
About the Artist
William Henry Fox Talbot British, 1800-1877 Born in Melbury, Dorset, Fox Talbot was a gentleman of the 19th century who, like many others of his class, pursued leisure activities in the arts and sciences. He experimented with means for capturing permanently the elusive images formed on paper by the camera obscura, an instrument used as a drawing aid. After several years of varying results, Talbot successfully devised a process that chemically recorded the image made by light on a piece… Full biography →
Provenance & Source
Image & data: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 / Public Domain.
Condition
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