Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
Prosper M. Wetmore
About the Artwork
A popular author, legislator, and general in the New York State militia, Wetmore, here at age 59, still resembles Edgar Allen Poe’s description of him from a decade earlier: “about five feet eight in height, slender, neat; with an air of military compactness.” Brady’s portrait studio, with branches in New York and Washington, DC, was the most important of its era in America, thanks in part to its success in photographing political, social, and cultural figures. These early celebrity portraits, such as those of the wedding of performer Tom Thumb (seen in the center of the gallery), could sell thousands of copies. Brady is now best known for images of the Civil War, most taken by photographers he hired.
Inscriptions
Written in pencil on verso: "M. Wetmore Prosper M; in black ink: "4"; in blue chalk: "30"; in blue chalk: on label typed in purple ink: "Prosper M. Wetmore."; in pencil on recto of mount: two indistinguishable marks
Provenance
George Reinhardt, New York
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988). Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007); Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (October 3, 2009-January 3, 2010). Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Mathew Brady (American, 1823–1896)
- Date
- 1857
- Medium
- salted paper print from wet collodion negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 47 x 39.4 cm (18 1/2 x 15 1/2 in.); Matted: 66 x 55.9 cm (26 x 22 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1987.220
More by Mathew B. Brady in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00012932
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