Plate Number 636. "Daisy" jumping a hurdle, saddled, preparing for the leap

Art Historical Context

Step into the groundbreaking world of motion photography with *Plate Number 636. "Daisy" jumping a hurdle saddled, preparing for leap* by Eadweard Muy, created in 1887. This collotype print captures a saddled horse named Daisy at the tense moment before clearing a hurdle, part of Muybridge's monumental *Animal Locomotion* series. Produced at the University of Pennsylvania, these images showcase his pioneering use of sequential photography to dissect movement frame by frame. Muybridge, a British-American photographer, transformed visual art in the late 19th century by proving what the eye alone couldn't see—such as a horse's gait lifting all four hooves off the ground. Using banks of up to 24 cameras triggered by the subject, he created collotypes, a precise photomechanical process that faithfully reproduced photographic details on a large scale (sheet: 47.63 × 60.33 cm). Acquired by the Corcoran Gallery in 1887 and now in the National Gallery of Art's collection, this work bridges science and art, influencing early cinema pioneers like Edison. Fun fact: Daisy's poised leap exemplifies Muybridge's obsession with equine anatomy, blending Victorian scientific curiosity with aesthetic grace— a snapshot of innovation galloping into modern media.

About the Artist

Eadweard Muybridge · 1830–1904

Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) was an English-American photographer who revolutionized the understanding of motion through his pioneering chronophotographic studies. Born Edward James Muggeridge in Kingston upon Thames, England, he emigrated to America and became famous first for his dramatic landscape photographs of Yosemite Valley, then for his groundbreaking motion studies that proved horses li...