16th-century Rock Crystal Ewer, Charles Thurston Thompson, 1866 - 1890
The British photographer Charles Thurston Thompson made his name photographing works of art. In 1856 the book Museum of the Louvre Part I, Crystal and Other Cups, was published, for which he took all of the photographs. The hard sunlight is striking. This was usually avoided to the extent possible because of the resulting harsh contrasts, yet in these photographs it enlivened the composition.