Ely Cathedral: Choir from an Engraving
c. 1891
Medium
Lantern slide
Dimensions
8.2 × 8.2 cm (3 1/4 × 3 1/4 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
215595
Art Historical Context
Frederick H. Evans, a pioneering British photographer renowned for his exquisite depictions of Gothic architecture, captured the intricate beauty of Ely Cathedral's Choir in this circa 1891 lantern slide. Ely Cathedral, a masterpiece of Romanesque and Early English Gothic design in Cambridgeshire, England, features a soaring choir space celebrated for its luminous stonework and ribbed vaults. Evans, a master of platinum printing and a key figure in the Pictorialist movement, transformed an engraving into this intimate photographic study, emphasizing light, texture, and architectural harmony to...
About the Artist
Frederick H. Evans · 1853–1943
Frederick H. Evans was born in London on 26 June 1853 and lived there his entire life, dying just two days before his ninetieth birthday in 1943. His first career was as a bookseller, operating a shop in Cheapside where he became a well-connected figure in London's intellectual life, counting the playwright George Bernard Shaw and the illustrator Aubrey Beardsley among his friends and customers. H...