Unidentified photographer 1855 (ca) [Studio Photographer at Work]
Salted paper print 5 1/8 × 3 13/16 in. (13 × 9.7 cm) (image) 9 1/2 × 5 5/8 in. (24.1 × 14.3 cm) (sheet)
Metropolitan Museum of Art William L. Schaeffer Collection, Promised Gift of Jennifer and Philip Maritz, in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, Accession Number: L.2019.57.598
In this evocative image, picture making takes center stage. Underneath a canopy of dark cloth, the photographer poses as if to adjust the bellows of a large-format camera. The view reflected on its ground glass would appear reversed and upside down. Viewers' expectations are similarly overturned, because the photographer's subject remains unseen.
