Section of the Grizzly Giant with Galen Clark, Mariposa Grove, Yosemit

A massive sequoia trunk fills most of this sepia photograph, its deeply furrowed bark rising from a root flare to the top of the frame. A small standing figure at the base, identified in the record as Galen Clark, gives a sense of the tree's scale among the surrounding conifers.

Look closer: A small human figure standing at the base of the trunk, giving the tree its scale.

Artist

Carleton E. Watkins

Date

1865–66

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

2970 × 3833 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1970