Porphyra laciniata, var: umbilicus on "Chondrus crispus"
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 (139)
Art Historical Context
Step into the ethereal world of early photography with Anna Atkins' *Porphyra laciniata,: umbilicus on "ondrus crispus"*ca. 1853), a delicate cyanotype capturing two species of seaweed in intimate embrace. Atkins, a British botanist and pioneering photographer, created this image as part of her groundbreaking *British Algae: Cyan Impressions* (184–1853), the first book ever illustrated entirely with photographs. Here, the frilly edges of *Porphyra laciniata*—a red alga—overlay the crisp, fan-like fronds of *Chondrus crispus* (Irish moss), rendered in stunning Prussian blue tones against a pris...
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...