At the Carthusian monastery in Burgos, Clifford apparently had the treasured seventeenth-century painted wood statue of the order's founder, Saint Bruno, moved from its usual place in a small lateral chapel to the front steps, where he had sufficient light and space to photograph it properly. Clifford's theatrical staging, the lifelike quality of the sculpture, and the harmonizing quality of photography yield an image that is easily mistaken for a miraculous vision of the saint himself.
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Title:Principal Doorway of the Carthusian Monastery, Burgos
Artist:Charles Clifford (Welsh, 1819–1863)
Date:1853
Medium:Albumen silver print from paper negative
Dimensions:Image: 33.9 x 28.4cm (13 3/8 x 11 3/16in.) Mat: 71.1 x 55.9 cm (28 x 22 in.) Frame: 81.3 x 66 cm (32 x 26 in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Gilman Collection, Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2005
Object Number:2005.100.65
Inscription: Inscribed in red ink, BL: "30"; Inscribed in pencil on mount, BR: "Bruno"
[Santiago Saavedra, Madrid, by 1992]; Gilman Paper Company Collection, New York, March 9, 1992
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," May 25–July 4, 1993.
Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," August 7–October 2, 1993.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," June 19–September 11, 1994.
Salas del Ministerio de Cultura, Madrid. "Charles Clifford," November 20, 1996–January 26, 1997.
Carrousel du Louvre, Paris. "Constructed Views: Photography and Architecture," November 19, 1998–November 23, 1998.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Photography from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," February 26–May 23, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 40," April 19–July 10, 2005.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860," September 24–December 30, 2007.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860," February 3–May 4, 2008.
Musée d'Orsay. "Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860," May 26–September 7, 2008.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 58," January 10–May 6, 2012.
Hambourg, Maria Morris, Pierre Apraxine, Malcolm Daniel, Virginia Heckert, and Jeff L. Rosenheim. The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 3, p. 300.
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