[Thaddeus Stevens Lying in State in the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington]
August 1868
![[Thaddeus Stevens Lying in State in the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington] by Alexander Gardner](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/thaddeus-stevens-lying-in-state-in-the-rotunda-of-286388.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 16.8 x 20.5 cm (6 5/8 x 8 1/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.243
Tags
Art Historical Context
In August 1868, photographer Alexander Gardner captured a solemn moment in American history with his albumen silver print, *Thaddeus Stevens in State in the Rot of the Capitol at Washington The image depicts the Radical Republican congressman and fierce abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, who had died just days earlier on August 11. As a key architect of Reconstruction and champion of civil rights for freed slaves, Stevens' body was honored with a rare lying-in-state ceremony in the U.S Capitol Rotunda—a privilege typically reserved for presidents and military heroes—underscoring his monumental inf...
About the Artist
Alexander Gardner
Alexander Gardner was born on 17 October 1821 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and came of age in a culture shaped by radical social thought. Influenced by the cooperative ideals of Robert Owen, Gardner initially apprenticed as a jeweler and harbored dreams of founding a utopian community in America. His encounter with photography changed the course of his life. After seeing Mathew Brady's cele...