William E. Van Wyck
Medium
albumen print (carte-de-visite)
Dimensions
image/sheet: 9.3 × 6.2 cm (3 11/16 × 2 7/16 in.) mount: 10.1 × 6.2 cm (4 × 2 7/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund
Accession Number
2019.12.30
Art Historical Context
This carte-de-visite of William E. Van Wyck, created by the New York studio of Jeremiah Gurney & Son in 1866, exemplifies the intimate scale of mid-nineteenth-century photography. Produced as an albumen print—a process in which egg-white emulsion held the image to paper—the small photograph measures roughly 3 11/16 by 2 7/16 inches and is mounted on a standard card. Such works allowed sitters to exchange likenesses much as one might share a calling card today. Gurney & Son operated during photography’s rapid rise as both a commercial craft and an artistic medium. Their cartes-de-visite captur...