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{{Short description|1855 photograph by Roger Fenton}} {{Short description|1855 photograph by Roger Fenton}}
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{{italic title}} {{italic title}}
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'''''Valley of the Shadow of Death''''' is an ] photograph by ], taken on April 23, 1855, during the ]. It is one of the most well-known ].<ref name="Getty">{{Cite web |title=Valley of the Shadow of Death (Getty Museum) |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/60602/roger-fenton-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-english-april-23-1855/ |access-date=21 March 2021 |website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles |language=en}}</ref> The photo is one of 360 taken by Fenton of the war.<ref>{{Citation |last=Fenton |first=Roger |title=The Valley of the Shadow of Death |date=1855 |url=https://www.artic.edu/artworks/123407/the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death |access-date=2024-12-09}}</ref> '''''Valley of the Shadow of Death''''' is an ] photograph by ], taken on April 23, 1855, during the ]. It is one of the most well-known ].<ref name="Getty">{{Cite web |title=Valley of the Shadow of Death (Getty Museum) |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/60602/roger-fenton-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-english-april-23-1855/ |access-date=21 March 2021 |website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles |language=en}}</ref> The photo is one of 360 taken by Fenton of the war.<ref>{{Citation |last=Fenton |first=Roger |title=The Valley of the Shadow of Death |date=1855 |url=https://www.artic.edu/artworks/123407/the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death |access-date=2024-12-09}}</ref>


==Background== ==Background==
⚫ Roger Fenton was sent by ] of Agnew & Sons to record the Crimean War, where the ], the ], the ], and the ] were fighting a war against the ]. The place of the picture was named by British soldiers ''The Valley of Death'' for being under constant shelling there.<ref name="Getty2">{{Cite web |title=Valley of the Shadow of Death (Getty Museum) |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/60602/roger-fenton-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-english-april-23-1855/ |access-date=21 March 2021 |website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles |language=en}}</ref> When in September 1855 Thomas Agnew put the picture on show, as one of a series of eleven collectively titled ''Panorama of the Plateau of Sebastopol in Eleven Parts'' in a London exhibition, he took the troops'—and ]—epithet and expanded it as ''Valley of the Shadow of Death'' with its deliberate evocation of ].


⚫ ==Possible staging==
⚫ Roger Fenton was sent by ] of Agnew & Sons to record the Crimean War, where the ], the ], the ], and the ] were fighting a war against the ]. The place of the picture was named by British soldiers ''The Valley of Death'' for being under constant shelling there.<ref name="Getty2">{{Cite web |title=Valley of the Shadow of Death (Getty Museum) |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/60602/roger-fenton-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-english-april-23-1855/ |access-date=21 March 2021 |website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles |language=en}}</ref> When in September 1855 Thomas Agnew put the picture on show, as one of a series of eleven collectively titled ''Panorama of the Plateau of Sebastopol in Eleven Parts'' in a London exhibition, he took the troops'—and ]—epithet, expanded it as ''Valley of the Shadow of Death'' with its deliberate evocation of ].

⚫ == Possible Staging ==
] ]
Film-maker ] went to ] in 2007 to identify the site of this "first iconic photograph of war".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Errol |date=4 October 2007 |title=Which Came First? (Part Two) |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/which-came-first-part-two/ |access-date=23 February 2021 |website=Opinionator |language=en-US}}</ref> He was investigating a second version of the photograph without cannonballs on the road and the question as to the authenticity of the picture. Hitherto opinions differed concerning which one was taken first, but Morris spotted evidence that the photo without the cannonballs was taken first.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Errol |title=Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography |publisher=Penguin Press |year=2011 |isbn=9781594203015 |pages=310 |chapter=Chapter 1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Errol |date=5 October 2012 |title=In the Valley of the Shadow of Doubt |url=https://radiolab.org/episodes/239499-in-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-doubt |accessdate=8 November 2012 |work=RadioLab |publisher=WNYC Radio |quote=This episode, which was originally podcast on 24 September 2012, was amended on 5 October 2012.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dicker |first=Ron |date=1 October 2012 |title='Valley Of The Shadow Of Death,' Famous Early War Photo, A Staged Fake, Investigator Says (PHOTOS) |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-fake_n_1928760.html |accessdate=8 November 2012 |work=Huff Post World 10/01/2012 |publisher=Huffington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=3 August 2017 |title=Truth Warriors |url=http://www.radiolab.org/story/truth-warriors/ |accessdate=28 September 2017 |work=RadioLab |publisher=WNYC Radio}}</ref> He remains uncertain about why balls were moved onto the road in the second picture—perhaps, he notes, Fenton deliberately placed them there to enhance the image. However, according to the Orsay Museum, "this is unlikely as the fighting raging around him would probably not have allowed him to do so".<ref>{{cite web |title=Musée d'Orsay: Roger Fenton The Valley of the Shadow of Death |url=http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/photography/commentaire_id/the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-16457.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=847&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=844&cHash=1613936201 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208134447/http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/photography/commentaire_id/the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-16457.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=847&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=844&cHash=1613936201 |archive-date=8 December 2008 |website=www.musee-orsay.fr}}</ref> The alternative is that soldiers were gathering up cannonballs for reuse and they threw down balls higher up the hill onto the road and ditch for collection later. Film-maker ] went to ] in 2007 to identify the site of this "first iconic photograph of war".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Errol |date=4 October 2007 |title=Which Came First? (Part Two) |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/which-came-first-part-two/ |access-date=23 February 2021 |website=Opinionator |language=en-US}}</ref> He was investigating a second version of the photograph without cannonballs on the road and the question as to the authenticity of the picture. Hitherto opinions differed concerning which one was taken first, but Morris spotted evidence that the photo without the cannonballs was taken first.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Errol |title=Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography |publisher=Penguin Press |year=2011 |isbn=9781594203015 |pages=310 |chapter=Chapter 1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Errol |date=5 October 2012 |title=In the Valley of the Shadow of Doubt |url=https://radiolab.org/episodes/239499-in-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-doubt |accessdate=8 November 2012 |work=RadioLab |publisher=WNYC Radio |quote=This episode, which was originally podcast on 24 September 2012, was amended on 5 October 2012.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dicker |first=Ron |date=1 October 2012 |title='Valley Of The Shadow Of Death,' Famous Early War Photo, A Staged Fake, Investigator Says (PHOTOS) |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-fake_n_1928760.html |accessdate=8 November 2012 |work=Huff Post World 10/01/2012 |publisher=Huffington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=3 August 2017 |title=Truth Warriors |url=http://www.radiolab.org/story/truth-warriors/ |accessdate=28 September 2017 |work=RadioLab |publisher=WNYC Radio}}</ref> He remains uncertain about why balls were moved onto the road in the second picture—perhaps, he notes, Fenton deliberately placed them there to enhance the image. However, according to the Orsay Museum, "this is unlikely as the fighting raging around him would probably not have allowed him to do so".<ref>{{cite web |title=Musée d'Orsay: Roger Fenton The Valley of the Shadow of Death |url=http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/photography/commentaire_id/the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-16457.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=847&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=844&cHash=1613936201 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208134447/http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/photography/commentaire_id/the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death-16457.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=847&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=844&cHash=1613936201 |archive-date=8 December 2008 |website=www.musee-orsay.fr}}</ref> The alternative is that soldiers were gathering up cannonballs for reuse and they threw down balls higher up the hill onto the road and ditch for collection later.

Revision as of 03:02, 23 January 2025

1855 photograph by Roger Fenton

Valley of the Shadow of Death

Valley of the Shadow of Death is an albumen print photograph by Roger Fenton, taken on April 23, 1855, during the Crimean War. It is one of the most well-known images of war. The photo is one of 360 taken by Fenton of the war.

Background

Roger Fenton was sent by Thomas Agnew of Agnew & Sons to record the Crimean War, where the United Kingdom, the Second French Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire were fighting a war against the Russian Empire. The place of the picture was named by British soldiers The Valley of Death for being under constant shelling there. When in September 1855 Thomas Agnew put the picture on show, as one of a series of eleven collectively titled Panorama of the Plateau of Sebastopol in Eleven Parts in a London exhibition, he took the troops'—and Tennyson's—epithet and expanded it as Valley of the Shadow of Death with its deliberate evocation of Psalm 23.

Possible staging

Valley of the Shadow of Death, with no cannonballs on the road

Film-maker Errol Morris went to Sevastopol in 2007 to identify the site of this "first iconic photograph of war". He was investigating a second version of the photograph without cannonballs on the road and the question as to the authenticity of the picture. Hitherto opinions differed concerning which one was taken first, but Morris spotted evidence that the photo without the cannonballs was taken first. He remains uncertain about why balls were moved onto the road in the second picture—perhaps, he notes, Fenton deliberately placed them there to enhance the image. However, according to the Orsay Museum, "this is unlikely as the fighting raging around him would probably not have allowed him to do so". The alternative is that soldiers were gathering up cannonballs for reuse and they threw down balls higher up the hill onto the road and ditch for collection later.

Public collections

There are prints of this photograph at The Royal Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum, in Los Angeles, the Princeton University Art Museum, in Princeton, and the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C.

See also

References

  1. "Valley of the Shadow of Death (Getty Museum)". The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  2. Fenton, Roger (1855), The Valley of the Shadow of Death, retrieved 2024-12-09
  3. "Valley of the Shadow of Death (Getty Museum)". The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  4. Morris, Errol (4 October 2007). "Which Came First? (Part Two)". Opinionator. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  5. Morris, Errol (2011). "Chapter 1". Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography. Penguin Press. p. 310. ISBN 9781594203015.
  6. Morris, Errol (5 October 2012). "In the Valley of the Shadow of Doubt". RadioLab. WNYC Radio. Retrieved 8 November 2012. This episode, which was originally podcast on 24 September 2012, was amended on 5 October 2012.
  7. Dicker, Ron (1 October 2012). "'Valley Of The Shadow Of Death,' Famous Early War Photo, A Staged Fake, Investigator Says (PHOTOS)". Huff Post World 10/01/2012. Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  8. "Truth Warriors". RadioLab. WNYC Radio. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  9. "Musée d'Orsay: Roger Fenton The Valley of the Shadow of Death". www.musee-orsay.fr. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008.
  10. "Roger Fenton (1819-69) - Valley of the Shadow of Death". www.rct.uk.
  11. "The Valley of the Shadow of Death - Roger Fenton | Musée d'Orsay". www.musee-orsay.fr.
  12. "Roger Fenton. The Valley of the Shadow of Death. April 23, 1855 | MoMA".
  13. Art Institute of Chicago
  14. "Valley of the Shadow of Death (The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection)". The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection.
  15. "Valley of the Shadow of Death (x1991-193)". artmuseum.princeton.edu.
  16. "The valley of the shadow of death". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
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