Tropical Scenery, Tropical Forest
1871
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 27.9 x 20.3 cm (11 x 8 in.) Mount: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 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
2005.100.920
Tags
Art Historical Context
John Moran’s “Tropical Scenery, Tropical Forest” (1871) invites viewers into the dense, light-dappled interior of a tropical woodland. Created during a period of growing fascination with distant lands, the albumen silver print captures the intricate textures of foliage and filtered, offering nineteenth-century audiences a rare visual encounter with environments most would never see firsthand. The choice of medium is central to the image’s impact. Albumen prints made from glass negatives were prized for their fine detail and rich tonal range, allowing Moran to render the layered canopy and und...
About the Artist
John Moran · 1821–1903
John Moran (1821–1903) was a British-born American landscape painter and photographer who became a significant figure in the artistic life of Philadelphia during the second half of the nineteenth century. Born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, he emigrated to the United States as a young man and settled in Philadelphia, where he became closely associated with one of the most remarkable artistic fami...