[Still life with Venus Sculpture]

Like the painter of the Museum’s early Renaissance Virgin and Child dubbed the “Master of the Straus Madonna,” virtually nothing is known about the photographer who created this large and exquisite still life. Because the time, skill, equipment, and resources required for photographs of this scale were considerable, its creator is presumed to have been a “gentleman amateur”—a man of leisure and learning. This print was among some 50 still life compositions of flowers and fine objects that were discovered near the town of Longjumeau, just south of Paris, hence the unknown artist’s moniker.