[Hungerford Suspension Bridge]

William Henry Fox Talbot

ca. 1845 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

The newly completed Hungerford suspension bridge (1841-45), designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (see no. 22), was a powerful sign of Victorian engineering and industry and surely constituted, for Talbot, a dramatic counterpoint in this photograph to the old boats drawn up on the bank of the Thames in the foreground. Only fifteen years after its completion, this bridge was demolished and replaced by the Charing Cross railway bridge. Such was the pace of Victorian technology.

Artist

William Henry Fox Talbot

Date

ca. 1845

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005