South Front of the Kremlin from the Old Bridge

Roger Fenton

1852 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

The engineer Charles Blacker Vignoles invited his friend Fenton to photograph a suspension bridge that Vignoles was building for Czar Nicholas I across the Dnieper River near Kiev. With little experience but with obvious proficiency in Gustave Le Gray's waxed-paper-negative process, Fenton saw no reason to limit himself to that appointed task. When he returned to London in late November, his portfolio was filled with photographs of the landmarks of Kiev, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow–the first photographs of Russia seen by the British public.

Artist

Roger Fenton

Date

1852

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005