Salisbury Cathedral - The Nave, from the South Transept
1858
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
30.2 x 31.1 cm (11 7/8 x 12 1/4 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
2005.100.9
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the soaring grandeur of Salisbury Cathedral through Roger Fenton's masterful 1858 photograph, *Salisbury Cathedral - The Nave, from the South Transept*. Captured from the south transept, this albumen silver print reveals the nave's rhythmic columns and vaulted ceiling, a testament to Early English Gothic architecture built between 1220 and 1258. Fenton's composition draws the eye upward, emphasizing the cathedral's ethereal height and intricate stonework, evoking the spiritual awe that has drawn pilgrims for centuries. As a pioneering British photographer, Fenton—best known for his ...
About the Artist
Roger Fenton · 1819–1819
Roger Fenton (1819–1869), born into a prosperous Lancashire merchant family as the son of banker and MP John Fenton, initially pursued a scholarly path, earning a first-class BA from the University of London in 1840 before studying law at University College London. He abandoned these pursuits for art, training as a painter under the history painter Charles Lucy in London by 1847—the two became clo...