Lambeth Palace

ca. 1858

Not on view

One of the most striking alterations to London's mid-nineteenth-century architectural landscape was the erection in 1837-50 of the new Houses of Parliament, designed by Sir Charles Barry in association with Augustus Pugin, in the Gothic perpendicular style. Fenton made several photographs of the new building, beginning with general views that he took moving downstream from Lambeth Palace on the opposite bank of the Thames and ending with close-ups that show ornamental details. In this image, which opens the series, the photographer has focused his attention on the south gate of the palace. The powerful Tudor edifice, built from 1486 to 1501, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, contrasts in its mass and tonal values with the delicate, lacy outline of the new Parliament buildings, showing the Clock Tower still unfinished; the arches of the old Westminster Bridge in the distance provide a graphic link between the two. The scene--with its barren foreground, and in the mid-ground the photographer's van, his assistant, a palace guard, and a lone sightseer--is like a stage set, the old building with its primitive simplicity facing, across the Thames, the self-assured elegance of the new.

Artwork Details

Title: Lambeth Palace
Artist: Roger Fenton (British, 1819–1869)
Date: ca. 1858
Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions: Image: 33.9 x 42.1 cm (13 3/8 x 16 9/16 in.), rounded corners
Mount: 38.3 x 45.3 cm (15 1/16 x 17 13/16 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Object Number: 2005.100.10
Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

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On the Beach, Hythe

Roger Fenton

1860

Laughing Satyr, Roger Fenton British, Salted paper print from glass negative — Laughing Satyr
Roger Fenton
1854–58

Birth of St. John, Roger Fenton British, Albumen silver print — Birth of St. John
Roger Fenton
1857

The Temple. Collection of Antiquities, Roger Fenton British, Albumen silver print from glass negative — The Temple. Collection of Antiquities
Roger Fenton
1850s

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