Fragment from Balustrade of the Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis, Athens

William James Stillman

ca. 1882 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

Stillman had a multifaceted career as a painter, photographer, art critic, journalist, diplomat, and amateur archeologist. Following a brief period as a landscape painter with ties to the Pre-Raphaelites, he became the founding editor of the art journal The Crayon and spent much of his time abroad, working as a correspondent for London and New York newspapers. In 1859 he took up photography and put his new skills to use while serving as American consul to Rome and Crete. His most accomplished photographs are his sensitive, detailed studies of the Acropolis in Athens, which he made in 1869 and again in 1882. This luminous close-up of a winged Victory reaching down to fasten her sandal was published in Stillman’s book, On the Track of Ulysses (1888), an account of his archaeological adventures around the Mediterranean.

Artist

William James Stillman

Date

ca. 1882

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005