[Franklin Blake Album]
![[Franklin Blake Album] by John Thomson|Felice Beato|Milton M. Miller|Carleton E. Watkins|Sylvester Dutton|William Pryor Floyd|Lai Fong](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/franklin-blake-album-286102.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver prints from glass negatives; salted paper prints from glass negatives
Dimensions
Various: cdv to approx. 11 x 15 inches, some panoramas
Classification
Albums
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.583 (1–138)
Art Historical Context
Step into the world of 19th-century wanderlust with the *Franklin Blake Album*, a photographic compendium assembled around 1865–70. Compiled by Franklin Blake, likely a discerning traveler or collector, this treasure trove features works by pioneering photographers including Felice Beato, known for his vivid documentation of Asia; John Thomson, chronicler of Chinese life; Carleton E. Watkins, master of American Western landscapes; and others like Lai Fong, Milton M. Miller, Sylvester Dutton, and William Pryor Floyd. Spanning cartes de visite (tiny, collectible portraits) to grand 11 x 15-inch ...
About the Artist
John Thomson|Felice Beato|Milton M. Miller|Carleton E. Watkins|Sylvester Dutton|William Pryor Floyd|Lai Fong · 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...