[Still Life with Books]
1870s–80s
![[Still Life with Books] by William Notman](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/still-life-with-books-286175.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 16.8 x 21.6 cm (6 5/8 x 8 1/2 in.) Mount: 20.3 x 24.1 cm (8 x 9 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Joyce F. Menschel Photography Library Fund, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.564
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Notman’s *Still Life with Books created in the 1870s–80s, exemplifies the meticulous studio photography of one of Canada’s foremost 19th-century imagemakers. Notman, who founded Montreal’s Notman Photographic Studio in 1856, was renowned for his portraits of elites and expansive landscapes, but this intimate composition reveals his skill in crafting still lifes. The precisely arranged books evoke Victorian-era themes of learning and leisure, rendered with sharp clarity on a mount-sized print (image: 16.8 x 21.6 cm). Produced as an albumen silver print from a glass negative, the work s...