Youth and Age
Fallon Horne
British, 1814–1858
1855
A salted paper print from a glass‑plate negative showing an elderly bearded man with a cane and a youth at his side, the photographer staging a quiet portrait that contrasts age and youth to reveal character.
What strikes you is the intimate, almost tender encounter—the old man’s lined face and long beard and his hand resting on the boy’s head while the boy, clutching a small notebook, looks up—set against a spare studio backdrop that concentrates attention on their expressions.
Made in 1855, the photograph exemplifies mid‑19th‑century advances in photographic technique and the period’s turn toward social realism, using photography’s fidelity to capture unidealized human subjects and everyday emotional truth.
Medium
Salted paper print from a glass-plate negative
Dimensions
6 3/4 × 5 1/4" (17.1 × 13.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Robert Hershkowitz in memory of Samuel J. Wagstaff, Jr.
Accession
308.1990
Palette
Exhibitions
