The Town of Malacca
1865
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Overall: 58 × 14 cm (22 13/16 × 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.583 (80a–c)
Art Historical Context
**The Town of Malacca**, captured by Scottish photographer John Thomson in 5, offers a striking panoramic view of this historic Malaysian port city, then under British colonial rule. Rendered as an albumen print from a glass negative pioneering wet-collodion process—measuring 58 × 14 cm, the image showcases Thomson's skill in landscape photography during his extensive travels across Asia. This medium, popular in the mid-19th century, richly toned prints with fine detail, allowing viewers to "travel" to distant locales through crisp, luminous imagery. Thomson's work documents Malacca (now Mela...
About the Artist
John Thomson · 1837–1921
John Thomson (1837–1921), a pioneering Scottish photographer, was born on 14 June 1837 in Edinburgh as the eighth of nine children to William Thomson, a tobacco spinner and trader, and Isabella Newlands.) After schooling in the early 1850s, he apprenticed with a local optical and scientific instrument manufacturer, where he mastered the principles of photography, completing his training around 185...