Vasily Vereshchagin

On August 27 1888, several New York newspapers reported on the arrival the day before of the ship Etruria, which had originated in Liverpool. A rather curious figure disembarked from the ship: “a man of powerful build, with massive shoulders and wearing a full black beard and mustache,” in the words of one journalist. A robust figure and broad shoulders, surmounted by a head framed in bushy black beard and hair,” observed another.

When in 1839 the world learned about the invention of photography, most artists did not think long before they recognized it as a purely scientific discovery. Few, if any, thought that photography would have an impact on the art of painting. Although the first photographs were the result of the collaboration between a scientist and an artist, and later many professional painters became photographers, and photography significantly influenced the art of painting, for a long time the artistic community was “opposed” to photography. However, if we look back at the state of painting prior to 1839, we can see a whole range of developments that seem to have broken the ground for the emergence of the new art.