The Railway Yard, Balaklava
1855
Medium
Salted paper print, from the album "Photographic Pictures of the Seat of War in the Crimea" (1856)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 20.6 × 26 cm (8 1/8 × 10 1/4 in.); Mount: 40.4 × 53.4 cm (15 15/16 × 21 1/16 in.)
Classification
salted paper print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
123400
Art Historical Context
Step into the gritty heart of the Crimean War Roger Fenton's *The Railway Yard, Ballava* (1855), a salted paper print that captures the logistical backbone of British military operations. Balaklava, a vital harbor on the Black Sea, served as the supply hub for Allied forces during the 1853–1856 against Russia. Fenton's image reveals the chaotic yet essential railway yard, where trains unloaded ammunition, food, and troops amid the mud and makeshift infrastructure—offering a rare, unromanticized glimpse into the war's behind-the-scenes machinery. As one of the first war photographers, Fenton p...
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...