| William Lake Price Don Quixote in His Study 1857 Albumen silver print, from glass negative 31.9 x 28 cm (12 9/16 x 11 ins) (image) 42.6 x 33.3 cm (16 3/4 x 13 1/8 ins (mount) Metropolitan Museum of Art Gift of A. Hyatt Mayor, 1969, Accession Number: 69.635.1 LL/92906 Printer: J. Spencer
This carefully staged tableau was among the most widely admired Victorian photographs. Price self-consciously sought to elevate the still-new medium to the level of "high art" by emulating the ambitious literary subjects, expressive gestures, and period details of grand history painting. Although this approach was largely overshadowed in subsequent years by one that championed qualities unique to photographic vision, theatrical staging has found renewed relevance in the work of many contemporary artists.
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