Grateloupia filicina
ca. 1853
Medium
Cyanotype
Dimensions
Image: 25.3 x 20 cm (9 15/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.557 (30)
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Grateloupia filicina**, created around 1853 by pioneering photographer Anna Atkins, captures the delicate fronds of this red seaweed species in stunning blueprint-like precision. Atkins, a British botanist and artist, was among the earliest adopters of photography for scientific illustration, producing some of the first photographic books dedicated to natural history. This cyanotype from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection exemplifies her meticulous documentation of British algae, blending art and science in the mid-19th century. The cyanotype process, invented by Sir John He...
About the Artist
Anna Atkins
Anna Atkins (née Children), born on March 16, 1799, in Tonbridge, Kent, England, grew up immersed in the world of science thanks to her father, John George Children, a prominent chemist, zoologist, and curator at the British Museum. After her mother Hester's death shortly after childbirth in 1800, Anna formed a close bond with her father, receiving an exceptional scientific education rare for wome...