Lewis Powell [alias Lewis Payne]
April 27, 1865
![Lewis Powell [alias Lewis Payne] by Alexander Gardner](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.artheonmuseum.org%2Fmet%2Fph%2Fthumb%2Flewis-powell-alias-lewis-payne-283201.webp&w=3840&q=75)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
22.4 × 17.4 cm (8 13/16 × 6 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.97
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking albumen silver print captures Lewis Powell, also known as Lewis Payne, in a formal studio portrait taken by Alexander Gardner on April 27, 1865. Gardner, pioneering photographer of the American Civil War era, created this image using the wet-plate collodion process on glass negatives, a technique that allowed for sharp detail and tonal richness in early photography. The work belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Gilman Collection and exemplifies the documentary power of 19th-century portraiture. Powell, a Confederate soldier implicated in the Lincoln assassination conspira...
About the Artist
Alexander Gardner
Alexander Gardner was born on 17 October 1821 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and came of age in a culture shaped by radical social thought. Influenced by the cooperative ideals of Robert Owen, Gardner initially apprenticed as a jeweler and harbored dreams of founding a utopian community in America. His encounter with photography changed the course of his life. After seeing Mathew Brady's cele...