Anonymous
Stonehenge, C.1890

Albumen Print
Image: 20.3 cm. x 25.4 cm

Estimate: $1,000

This view of Stonehenge is a superb example of late nineteenth-century picturesque photography. It exemplifies the extraordinary detail that can be achieved with glass plate, large format cameras and albumen prints. The rich sepia tones are characteristic of albumen prints, now extremely rare. In the late nineteenth century, there was a huge demand for picturesque photographs of exotic places and ruins such as the Stonehenge site. Many nineteenth-century documentary photographers were commissioned to travel to archeological, architectural and tourist sites, and to survey colonized lands. As with this print, they were mounted into albums as official records and for armchair tourism.