[Gerald Massey]
![[Gerald Massey] by John and Charles Watkins](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/gerald-massey-685896.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Approx. 10.2 x 6.3 cm (4 x 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Albert Ten Eyck Gardner Collection, Gift of the Centennial Committee, 1970
Accession Number
1970.659.556
Tags
Art Historical Context
This intimate albumen silver print captures Gerald Massey, a prominent Victorian poet, lecturer, and spiritualist thinker, in a classic profile pose. Produced by the renowned London photography firm of John and Charles Watkins in 1860s, it exemplifies the carte-de-visite format—a small, wallet-sized card (approx. 10.2 x 6.3 cm) that revolutionized portraiture. These affordable prints became wildly popular, traded like baseball cards among admirers of celebrities, politicians, and intellectuals, turning photography into a democratic medium. The albumen process, using egg-white-coated paper sen...
About the Artist
John and Charles Watkins · 1840–1875
**John and Charles Watkins: Pioneers of Victorian Portrait Photography** John Watkins (1823–1874) and his younger brother Octavius Charles Watkins (1836–1882) were prominent British portrait photographers whose collaborative studio captured the luminaries of Victorian Britain.) Born in Raglan, Monmouthshire, Wales, John began his career around 1840, establishing a studio at 34 Parliament Street i...