[The Wilderness Battlefield]
1864
![[The Wilderness Battlefield] by Unknown](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/the-wilderness-battlefield-286347.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver prints from glass negatives
Dimensions
From 12.5 x 7.9 cm (4 15/16 x 3 1/8 in.) to 12.5 x 9.1 cm (4 15/16 x 3 9/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.944.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
These albumen silver prints from glass negatives, created in 1864, document the Wilderness Battlefield, a dense and tangled woodland in Virginia where Union and Confederate forces fought a brutal engagement during the American Civil War. As part of the Overland Campaign, the battle left the area scarred by conflict, and these small photographs—measuring roughly 12.5 centimeters across—capture the terrain in striking detail, offering one of the earliest photographic records of such a site. The medium itself reflects a pivotal moment in photographic history. Albumen prints made from glass negat...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...