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Photograph
underwood and underwood - Enlarge image
Photograph
- Place of origin:
New York, USA (made)
- Date:
1860-1870 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
underwood and underwood (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Albumen prints mounted on glass
- Museum number:
2211-1955
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H, case X, shelf 546, box A
Object Type
A stereograph is a pair of photographic images of the same subject taken from slightly different angles. This gives the illusion of a single three-dimensional image when viewed through a stereoscope designed to hold it.
Ownership & Use
Stereographs were mass produced. Viewing them was a popular amusement carried out in the home from the 1850s until the early 20th century. On the reverse of this stereograph is a quote from a poem by William Cowper:
'Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat,
To peep at such a world, to see the stir
Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd'.
The lines refer to the pleasure of viewing this bustling city scene in comfort through a stereoscope (the 'loopholes of retreat') without physically having to jostle with the crowd.
Subjects Depicted
This stereograph is from a series entitled 'Instantaneous Views of London'. The word 'instantaneous' reveals that an important selling-point for such photographs was that they quickly captured a moment in time. In this case the crowd and carriages of a busy London street are frozen in motion.
