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William H. Rau
A Lion
n.d.
Albumen print
39 x 60 in
Larry Gottheim, Be-hold, Inc
Courtesy of Larry Gottheim - Be-Hold (50 / 49)
LL/22392
This hung in the estate in New Jersey of James Anthony Bailey, where he had a menagerie that may have included this lion. Bailey joined with P. T. Barnum in 1881 and ran the Barnum and Bailey Circus until it became a partnership with the Ringling Brothers in 1919. William H. Rau of Philadelphia became the official photographer for the N. Y. Central Railroad from 1890 - 1895, during which time he produced many large photographs of scenes along the line of the Railroad. According to the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, NY, Dec. 15, 1893, "the Eastman Kodak Company has just completed the largest view camera in the worldą capable of taking a plate thirty-six inches long" that was given to Rau (as quoted on the web site www.officemusum.com/photo_gallery_1910_William_H_Rau.htm.)
The present photograph is much larger than that! It measures 39" x 60" (that's more than 3 feet by 5 feet!) and is possibly an enlargement from a plate made in that camera. Bailey commissioned Rau to make this print, and Rau has boldly signed it in the lower left. The albumen print has been mounted on canvas, and is in its original frame (the frame is in somewhat deteriorated condition.) This may be the largest albumen print known.
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