Cuisine ambulante
1870s
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative with applied color
Dimensions
19.2 x 23.7 cm (7 9/16 x 9 5/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.505.1 (45a)
Tags
Art Historical Context
"Cuisine ambulante," meaning "street kitchen" or "mobile cuisine," captures a lively snapshot of 19th-century daily life in this hand-colored albumen silver print the 1870s. Produced a glass negative—a cutting-edge technique of the era—the image measures 19.2 x 23.7 cm and features portraits of men engaged with food and eating, likely vendors or workers in an urban setting. The applied color adds a vivid, almost painterly warmth to the monochromatic base, a popular method that bridged photography's realism with the allure of traditional painting. This photograph reflects the bustling street c...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...