Augusta Walker
1876
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
9.3 x 5.6 cm (3 11/16 x 2 3/16 in. )
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Karen Hesse Smith, 1998
Accession Number
1998.94.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 19th-century photography with *Augusta Walker* (1876), a delicate albumen silver print from glass negative, measuring just 9.3 x 5.6 cm. This petite portrait, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of's Photographs Department (gift of Karen Hesse Smith,1998), captures a in a format reminiscent of popular carte-de-visite—small, affordable photos that served as personal calling cards. Albumen prints, the dominant photographic medium from the 1850s to 1890s, used egg whites to coat paper, creating sharp details and warm, lustrous tones from silver salts exposed via gla...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...