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Moonlight at Yarmouth

ca. 1872
Not on view
The "instantaneous" views of British photographer Henry Stuart Wortley were praised by his peers for their "clouds of most wondrous beauty, in combination with sea and foreground." Moonlight at Yarmouth is emblematic of such work: a rolling wave on a moonlit sea remains forever frozen beneath a dramatic, cloudy sky. But all is not as it seems. Stuart Wortley made the photograph during the day, with the sun behind the clouds. By pointing the camera directly into a partially obscured sun, and underexposing the negative, he was able to use the available light to simultaneously capture the sky and sea. As a bonus, he also created the illusion of moonlight, an effect that catapulted the popularity of his pictures even as some critics deemed them dishonest.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Moonlight at Yarmouth
  • Artist: Colonel Henry Stuart-Wortley (British, Wortley 1832–1890 London)
  • Date: ca. 1872
  • Medium: Carbon print
  • Dimensions: Image: 11 1/4 × 13 1/8 in. (28.5 × 33.4 cm)
    Sheet: 11 1/4 × 13 1/8 in. (28.5 × 33.4 cm)
    Mount: 13 1/8 × 15 3/16 in. (33.4 × 38.5 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2026
  • Object Number: 2026.362
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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