Windsor from the Railway

Francis Frith

c. 1860

An albumen silver print by Francis Frith that records Windsor Castle from a railway vantage, aiming to document and picturesque the landmark for a growing Victorian audience of travelers.

What first strikes you is the dense, almost sculptural block of trees mirrored in the glassy river, set against the pale, distant silhouette of Windsor Castle to the right, creating a quiet contrast between nature and monument.

An example of mid-19th-century commercial travel photography and the albumen process, this view helped shape how Victorians visualized national heritage and the modern experience of railway mobility.

Palette

Exhibitions

Nineteenth-Century Photographs from the Arnold H. Crane Collection

1979

Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography

1981

From the Gilman Collection: Photographs Preserved in Ink

1984

Photographs of the Civil War and the American Frontier

1942