Currently not on view
When the Day's Work is Done,
1877
Henry Peach Robinson, 1830–1901; born Ludlow, England; died Tunbridge Wells, England
x1991-2
Robinson brought the art of photography into sync with British Academic painting of his time through popular, large-scale compositions such as When the Day's Work is Done. He used five negatives to create this unique combination print-note the appearance of dark "seams" wherever two negatives meet, as at the edge of the carpet in the foreground. Each negative contributes a distinct allegorical or narrative note. Winter vegetables in the foreground suggest the pious couple's agrarian labors, while the glimpse of town through the window hints at their distance from worldly affairs. Thanks to Robinson's printing technique, every detail appears in sharp focus, ready to be drawn into service in the homiletic reading prompted by the picture's title.
Information
Title
When the Day's Work is Done
Dates
1877
Maker
Medium
Albumen print
Dimensions
image (sight): 54.3 x 75.7 cm. (21 3/8 x 29 13/16 in.)
mount: 75.4 x 96 cm. (29 11/16 x 37 13/16 in.)
frame: 70.2 × 91.8 × 2.2 cm (27 5/8 × 36 1/8 × 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, anonymous gift
Object Number
x1991-2
Place Made
Europe, England, Royal Tunbridge Wells
Culture
Techniques
- Margaret Harker, Henry Peach Robinson: Master of Photographic Art 1830-1901 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988)., plate 79 (as original print)
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1991," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 51, no. 1 (1992): p. 22-78., p. 71
- Ellen Handy, "Pictorial Effect/Naturalistic Vision: The Photographs and Theories of Henry Peach Robinson and Peter Henry Emerson" (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1994)., not illustrated
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 263 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 315
