Fading Away, from "Illustrated Times"

October 30, 1858

Not on view

This wood engraving reproduces a famous pictorial photograph constructed by Henry Peach Robinson in 1858. To portray the peaceful death of a young girl surrounded by her grieving family, Robinson skillfully combined five different negatives. Although imaginary, many contemporaries criticized the subject as too painful to be tastefully rendered by such a literal medium as photography. The controversy made Robinson the most famous photographer in England and a leader of the Pictorialist movement which advocated painterly effects. Wood engravings played a crucial part in circulating images in the nineteenth century, as part of popular weekly journals such as the "Illustrated London News" and, as here, the "Illustrated Times," which ran from 1855 to 1872.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Fading Away, from "Illustrated Times"
Series/Portfolio: Illustrated Times
Artist: After Henry Peach Robinson (British, Ludlow, Shropshire 1830–1901 Tunbridge Wells, Kent)
Date: October 30, 1858
Medium: Wood engraving
Dimensions: Sheet: 9 7/16 × 13 3/8 in. (24 × 33.9 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Donato Esposito, 2016
Object Number: 2016.774.8
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Publisher Harper & Brothers
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