Panoramic View of Washington, DC
c. 1870
Medium
5 albumen prints
Dimensions
image: 279.4 × 40.64 cm (110 × 16 in.) framed: 302.26 × 63.5 × 3.81 cm (119 × 25 × 1 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Daniel Wolf and Mathew Wolf in memory of Diane Wolf
Accession Number
2015.134.1
Art Historical Context
Step into the bustling heart of post-Civil War America with *Panoramic View of, DC*, a stunning composite photograph created by an anonymous American artist around 1870. Crafted from five meticulously joined albumen prints—a pioneering wet-collodion process using egg whites to produce richly toned, highly detailed images—this panoramic masterpiece stretches an impressive 110 inches wide, offering visitors an immersive, bird's-eye sweep of the capital's evolving skyline. Captured during the Reconstruction era, when Washington, DC, was rapidly transforming from a modest southern town into a sym...
About the Artist
American 19th Century
The artist cataloged as "American, 19th Century" represents a collective of unidentified painters active in the United States during the nineteenth century, with 380 known artworks preserved in this virtual museum's collection. These works span a diverse array of genres typical of the era, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, reflecting the burgeoning artistic output of ...