The Wharfe, Yorkshire
1853–56
Medium
Salted paper print
Dimensions
Image: 19.9 cm, 24 7/8 in. (7 13/16 × 24 7/8 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
2005.100.382 (84)
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
John Dillwyn Llewelyn's *The Wharfe, Yorkshire* (1853–56) captures the serene beauty of the River Wharfe winding through the rugged Yorkshire landscape, a panoramic salted paper print measuring nearly 25 inches wide. Created during the formative years of photography, this work showcases Llewelyn's skill in rendering nature's quiet drama—flowing waters, lush banks, and distant hills—evoking the Romantic fascination with Britain's wild terrains. As a salted paper print, one of the earliest photographic processes pioneered by William Henry Fox Talbot in the 1840s, the image emerges directly from light exposure on chemically treated paper, yielding soft, tonal gradations rich in detail and subtlety. This medium's fragility and handmade quality highlight photography's artisanal roots, bridging painting and science in the mid-19th century. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, *The Wharfe* exemplifies early landscape photography's role in documenting Britain's natural heritage, inviting viewers to ponder the river's timeless flow through Llewelyn's pioneering lens.
About the Artist
John Dillwyn Llewelyn · 1810–1882
John Dillwyn Llewelyn (1810–1882) was a pioneering Welsh photographer and botanist whose innovative images captured the dramatic landscapes of his Penllergare estate and the Welsh coast. Born on 12 January 1810 in Swansea as the eldest son of botanist Lewis Weston Dillwyn and Mary Dillwyn, he inherited the Penllergare estate from his maternal grandfather, Colonel John Llewelyn, upon coming of age ...