Francis Wayland Sherman at the Age of 2 Years 10 Months (1862): Art, History and Details

Francis Wayland Sherman at the Age of 2 Years 10 Months (1862) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is H.N. Roberts (American, active 1860s).

The work and its context

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

An inscription on the back of this photograph records the sitter’s identity and age. Because he belonged to a prominent family, it was possible to learn through research that he grew up in Ludlow, Vermont, the son of a successful businessman with pharmaceutical and music enterprises that he later managed. The rocking horse, a favorite toy of Victorian nurseries, may have belonged to the wealthy child or have been a prop in the photographer’s studio. This is an especially luxurious example. Dappled gray rocking horses were the most popular in that era, having been favored by Queen Victoria for her children’s nursery.

Object facts

• Title: Francis Wayland Sherman at the Age of 2 Years 10 Months
• Date: 1862
• Creator attribution: H.N. Roberts (American, active 1860s)
• Culture: America
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative
• Dimensions: Image: 18.6 x 13.3 cm (7 5/16 x 5 1/4 in.); Mounted: 25.1 x 19.9 cm (9 7/8 x 7 13/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
• Collection: Photography
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2002.34

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

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.