Batavian Woman
1860s–70s
Medium
Gelatin silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
23.3 x 16.5 cm (9 3/16 x 6 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Matthew Dontzin, 1985
Accession Number
1985.1168.61
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the world of 19th-century photography with *Batavian Woman*, a gelatin silver print from a glass negative, created in the 1860s–70s. This intimate portrait, measuring 23.3 x 16.5 cm, captures unidentified woman from Batavia—modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia—during the height of Dutch colonial rule. housed in the Metropolitan Museum Art's Department of Photographs as a gift from Matthew Dont in 1985, it exemplifies early photographic portraiture, where the camera as both artistic tool and ethnographic lens. The gelatin silver process, introduced in the 1870s, marked a revolutionary shift...
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...