[Cloisters of the Church of Saint John of the Kings, Toledo, Spain]

ca. 1858

Not on view

One of the legion of British photographers dispersed throughout the world during the early days of the medium, Clifford had the distinction of serving as official photographer to Queen Isabella II of Spain. The patronage was a blessing, for it facilitated his access to the great architectural monuments of Spain and gave him the freedom to practice his art.
Saint John of the Kings was one of the best examples of High Gothic architecture in Spain. When Clifford photographed the church and its adjoining cloister, they were in need of repair because of damage incurred in the Napoleonic Wars. As a native Englishman, Clifford was imbued with Romantic notions of ruins--of their symbolic evidence of the grandeur of human aspirations and of their inevitably temporal nature.

Artwork Details

Object Information

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Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: [Cloisters of the Church of Saint John of the Kings, Toledo, Spain]
Artist: Charles Clifford (Welsh, 1819–1863)
Date: ca. 1858
Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions: 41.6 x 31.7 cm. (16 3/8 x 12 1/2 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 1989
Object Number: 1989.1047
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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Monserrat, Vista general de la montaña desde Monistrol, Charles Clifford British, Albumen silver print from glass negative — Monserrat, Vista general de la montaña desde Monistrol
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Banjo, Wood, various materials, British — Banjo
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