Cathedral Rocks and Reflections, Yosemite (1864): Art, History and Details

Cathedral Rocks and Reflections, Yosemite (1864) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Charles Leander Weed (American, 1824–1903).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In 1859, Charles L. Weed made the first photographs of the Yosemite region. Using the wet collodion process, he produced 40 stereoviews and some 20 large (10 x 14 inches) glass negatives. His pioneering photographs informed future visitors and artists of the region's scenic splendors. About five years later, in 1864, he returned to create his remarkable mammoth plate views (approximately 17 x 22 inches) of the valley. This image of Cathedral Rocks is among the best examples of Weed's ability to combine sublime subject matter with observation. With graceful precision, he captured the complex landscape, fully reflected in the mirror-like surface of the lake's calm water.

Object facts

• Title: Cathedral Rocks and Reflections, Yosemite
• Date: 1864
• Creator attribution: Charles Leander Weed (American, 1824–1903)
• Culture: America
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative
• Dimensions: Image: 51.9 x 39.9 cm (20 7/16 x 15 11/16 in.); Paper: 70.8 x 55.4 cm (27 7/8 x 21 13/16 in.); Matted: 76.2 x 61 cm (30 x 24 in.)
• Collection: Photography
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1995.78

Collection credit

Jo Hershey Selden Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Major Works,” December 20, 1995, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.