The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Winter Trees Reflected in a Pond

Winter Trees Reflected in a Pond

1841–42
(British, 1800–1877)
Image: 16.4 x 19.1 cm (6 7/16 x 7 1/2 in.); Paper: 19.8 x 24.8 cm (7 13/16 x 9 3/4 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Talbot made this image just a few years after he invented the photograph on paper.

Description

Talbot captured tree branches flawlessly mirrored on the glassy surface of the pond at his family seat, the 13th-century Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. A longer exposure, or a lusher season, would have risked a blurred image. The result was a radically abstract composition for its time—a starkly beautiful landscape, as expressive and personal as any painting.
  • William Henry Fox Talbot [1800-1877] (the artist), Chippenham, United Kingdom
    ?-1930s
    Matilda Theresa Talbot [1871-1956], Chippenham, United Kingdom
    1930s
    Science Museum, London, United Kingdom
    1970s
    Unknown
    1970s-2006
    (Robert Hershkowitz, Ltd., Sussex, United Kingdom)
    February 27, 2006
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 304-305
    Tannenbaum, Barbara. “From Long Shot to Close-up: A brief history of the photography collection.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 1 (2023): 30-33. Reproduced: P. 33.
  • {{cite web|title=Winter Trees Reflected in a Pond|url=false|author=William Henry Fox Talbot|year=1841–42|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2006.4