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Westminster Abbey
About the Artwork
This rare image is the first photography by Henneman to enter the museum's collection. Its composition stresses the overall form as well as the details of the main entrance of London's Westminster Abbey. Instead of showing the entire building, Henneman selected a close vantage point to express his admiration of one of the greatest examples of early English architecture. Enlivened with strong light and shadow patterns, the sculptural and textural refinements of the building are clearly visible in this subtly toned photograph. Henneman became a key figure in the early history of photography through his association with the inventor of the calotype process, William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877). Beginning about 1841, Henneman made some of photography's earliest images and was the master printer for Talbot and a number of his close associates. Talbot even chose this picture to be included with 23 of his own images in his first photographically illustrated book, The Pencil of Nature (1844 to 1846).
Inscriptions
Written in ink on verso "LA22"
Provenance
Lacock Abbey
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Nicholas Henneman (British, 1813–1898)
- Date
- before 1844
- Medium
- salted paper print from calotype negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 16.1 x 18.2 cm (6 5/16 x 7 3/16 in.); Paper: 18.5 x 22.9 cm (7 5/16 x 9 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
- Accession no.
- 1998.72
More by Nicholas Henneman 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-00013073
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