The Tomb of Sir Walter Scott, in Dryburgh Abbey

A ruined Gothic abbey facade rises against a pale sky, its pointed arches and broken window openings open to the air. An iron gate fills the lower archway, flanked by dark trees and shrubs, in a sepia salted print from a paper negative.

Look closer: Two round openings are cut into the wall beside the arches, one just left of center.

Artist

William Henry Fox Talbot

Date

1844

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3779 × 3567 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and Jennifer and Joseph Duke Gifts, 1997