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[Cathedral Rocks, with lake and trees in foreground, Yosemite Valley, Calif.] – Vintage Wall Art

[Cathedral Rocks, with lake and trees in foreground, Yosemite Valley, Calif.], [ca. 1865] — historic photograph
[Cathedral Rocks, with lake and trees in foreground, Yosemite Valley, Calif.], [ca. 1865]. Historic photograph from the Yosemite collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

This historic photograph of [Cathedral Rocks, with lake and trees in foreground, Yosemite Valley, Calif.] brings a moment of history to your wall. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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[Cathedral Rocks, with lake and trees in foreground, Yosemite Valley, Calif.]

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Cathedral Rocks, the granite spires rising above the Merced River near the eastern end of Yosemite Valley, is the subject here, with a still lake and a screen of trees filling the foreground. The albumen print dates to about 1865, a few years after Congress set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove as a protected grant to California in 1864. Large-format plates like the one used for this view were slow and heavy to carry into the mountains, so such photographs were made with deliberate care. Their wide tonal range helped convince eastern audiences that the valley's scale was real.

Created / published[ca. 1865]
Medium1 photographic print : albumen.
GenreLandscape photographs 1860-1870.Mammoth plates 1860-1870.Albumen prints 1860-1870.
NotesPublished in: Eyes of the nation : a visual history of the United States / Vincent Virga and curators of the Library of Congress ; historical commentary by Alan Brinkley. New York : Knopf, 1997.
SubjectsLakes & ponds--California--1860-1870. Mountains--California--1860-1870. Trees--California--1860-1870. Yosemite National Park (Calif.)--1860-1870.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,465 × 1,190 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-218442

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