Shanghai Cathedral
1865
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
26.2 × 33.2 cm (10 5/16 × 13 1/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.583 (91a)
Art Historical Context
Step into the bustling world of 1860s Shanghai with John Thomson's *Shanghai Cathedral* (1865), an albumen silver print from a glass negative. Scottish photographer Thomson, a pioneer in documenting Asia, captured this Gothic Revival structure—likely St. Ignatius Cathedral— the city's rapid transformation as a treaty port following the Opium Wars. 26.2 × 33.2 cm, the image showcases the cathedral's soaring spires and intricate stonework against a hazy urban backdrop, evoking the clash of Eastern and Western influences. The albumen process, popular in the mid-19th century, lent Thomson's work ...
About the Artist
John Thomson · 1837–1921
John Thomson (1837–1921), a pioneering Scottish photographer, was born on 14 June 1837 in Edinburgh as the eighth of nine children to William Thomson, a tobacco spinner and trader, and Isabella Newlands.) After schooling in the early 1850s, he apprenticed with a local optical and scientific instrument manufacturer, where he mastered the principles of photography, completing his training around 185...