Female Musicians
1865
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
16.7 × 27.9 cm (6 9/16 in. × 11 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.583 (64a)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1865, Scottish photographer John Thomson captured *Female Musicians*, an evocative albumen silver print from glass negative, measuring 16.7 × 27.9 cm. This medium, dominant in the mid-19th century, egg whites to bind light-sensitive silver salts, yielding rich tonal gradations and exquisite detail that brought photographic realism to life. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, the image highlights women with musical instruments, offering a rare glimpse into Victorian daily life. Thomson, a pioneer of street photography, documented London's vibrant urban scenes durin...
About the Artist
John Thomson · 1837–1921
John Thomson (1837–1921), a pioneering Scottish photographer, was born on 14 June 1837 in Edinburgh as the eighth of nine children to William Thomson, a tobacco spinner and trader, and Isabella Newlands.) After schooling in the early 1850s, he apprenticed with a local optical and scientific instrument manufacturer, where he mastered the principles of photography, completing his training around 185...