[Painter Dipping Brush into Paint Jug]
late 1850s–60s
![[Painter Dipping Brush into Paint Jug] by Unknown](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/painter-dipping-brush-into-paint-jug-291917.webp)
Medium
Ambrotype with applied color
Dimensions
Image: 8.9 x 6.9 cm (3 1/2 x 2 11/16 in.) Plate: 10.8 x 8.2 cm (4 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.) Case: 1.9 x 11.9 x 9.4 cm (3/4 x 4 11/16 x 3 11/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Herbert Mitchell, 2008
Accession Number
2015.400.113
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of mid-19th-century photography *[Painter Dipping Brush into Jug]*, a captivating ambrotype from the late 1850s or 1860s. This small portrait, measuring just 8.9 x6.9 cm, depicts an unidentified man—likely an artist—poised with brush in hand, dipping it into jug of paint. Housed in a protective case, it evokes the personal keepsakes families treasured during the Civil War era, when portable images bridged distances. Ambrotypes, produced on glass using the wet-collodion process, were a democratic innovation: cheaper and more durable than daguerreotypes, they boomed...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...