[Sir Charles Barry]
![[Sir Charles Barry] by John and Charles Watkins](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/sir-charles-barry-685364.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Approx. 10.2 x 6.3 cm (4 x 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Albert Ten Eyck Gardner Collection, Gift of the Centennial Committee, 1970
Accession Number
1970.659.22
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant carte-de-visite portrait features Sir Charles Barry, the British architect whose Gothic Revival masterpiece, the Houses of Parliament, redefined London's skyline in collaboration with Augustus Welby Pugin. Captured by the prominent photographic team of brothers John and Charles Watkins in 1860s, it belongs to the booming era of studio portraiture, when photography democratized fame. The albumen silver print medium—created by sensitizing paper with egg whites silver salts—delivers the warm, luminous tones and sharp details that made these small images (just 10.2 x 6.3 cm) wildly p...
About the Artist
John and Charles Watkins · 1840–1875
**John and Charles Watkins: Pioneers of Victorian Portrait Photography** John Watkins (1823–1874) and his younger brother Octavius Charles Watkins (1836–1882) were prominent British portrait photographers whose collaborative studio captured the luminaries of Victorian Britain.) Born in Raglan, Monmouthshire, Wales, John began his career around 1840, establishing a studio at 34 Parliament Street i...