Ely Cathedral: Prior's Door, with Bedesman
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
215588
Art Historical Context
Step through the hallowed portals of Ely Cathedral with Frederick H. Evans' captivating 1891 photograph, *Ely Cathedral: Prior Door, with Bedes*. This intimate lantern slide captures the weathered Prior's Door—a Gothic entrance steeped in medieval history—framed by intricate stone tracery, with a solitary bedesman (a licensed cathedral beggar) adding a poignant human touch. Evans, a British photographer renowned for his architectural studies, immortalized England's great cathedrals during the late Victorian era, revealing their spiritual grandeur through meticulous detail. Crafted as a square...
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...