The Russian Church & Town of Balaklava
1855
Medium
Salted paper print, plate 24 from the album "Photographs Taken in the Crimea" (1856)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 29 × 36.5 cm (11 7/16 × 14 3/8 in.); Mount: 42.5 × 58.9 cm (16 3/4 × 23 1/4 in.)
Classification
salted paper print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
146129
Art Historical Context
Step into the stark beauty of Roger Fenton's *The Russian Church & Town of Balaklava* (1855), a salted paper print that captures a pivotal moment in history. Taken during the Crimean War1853–1856), this image depicts the serene yet strategic harbor town of Balaklava, a key supply base and site of infamous battles like the Charge of the Light Brigade. Fenton, a pioneering British photographer, ventured to the war zone with government sponsorship, producing one of the first photographic documentaries of conflict. As plate 24 from Fenton's landmark album *Photographs Taken in the Crimea* (1856),...
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...