Man on a Horse (c. 1860s): Art, History and Details

Man on a Horse (c. 1860s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nadar (French, 1820–1910).

The work and its context

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

The genre of equestrian portraiture dates back to classical Greek and Roman antiquity, when it was used to depict rulers and suggest power and status. In the 19th century, members of the upper classes sometimes had their picture taken astride their horse. The rider here has been identified as Leonardus Antonius Lightenvelt, a Dutch statesman whose final position was as envoy to France, where this photograph was taken.

Object facts

• Title: Man on a Horse
• Date: c. 1860s
• Creator attribution: Nadar (French, 1820–1910)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative
• Dimensions: Image: 17 x 22.3 cm (6 11/16 x 8 3/4 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
• Collection: Photography
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1996.336

A detail from the museum

The photographic equipment of the 1860s required a long exposure; it was hard to get a horse to remain perfectly still for a long time.

Collection credit

Gift of Robert Hershkowitz and Charles Isaacs

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.