Untitled (John C. Fremont's Oso Hotel, Near Mariposa, CA)
1856
Medium
Ambrotype
Dimensions
10.8 × 14.1 cm (4 5/16 × 5 9/16 in.); Open case: 15.2 × 24 × 1.4 cm (6 × 9 1/2 × 9/16 in.); Case: 15.2 × 12 × 2.1 cm (6 × 4 3/4 × 7/8 in.); Plate: 10.8 × 14 cm (4 1/4 × 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
portrait
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
250291
Art Historical Context
This rare 1856 ambrotype captures John C. Fremont's Oso Hotel near Mariposa, California offering a poignant snapshot of mid-19th-century American frontier life. Produced by an unknown maker, the image is housed in a compact case typical of the era, measuring just 10.8 × 14.1 cm. Ambrotypes, invented in the early 1850s, were a breakthrough in photography: a unique positive image created on glass using the wet collodion process. The plate was underexposed to form a faint negative, then backed with black material to reveal a detailed, one-of-a-kind positive—affordable and portable, they democrati...