Interieur van de Chapel of the Nine Altars bij de Fountains Abbey nabij Ripon before 1856

Joseph Cundall captured this image of the Chapel of the Nine Altars at Fountains Abbey using photography, a relatively new medium in the 19th century. It’s not just an image; it's an artifact of the Industrial Revolution. Consider the labor involved in producing this photograph. From the mining of materials for the camera and photographic plates, to the darkroom processes and the printing itself, this was no small undertaking. Photography democratized image-making, yet it also relied on an increasingly complex web of industrial production. Here, the inherent qualities of photography – its indexical relationship to reality, its capacity for mass production – come to the fore. Cundall's photograph preserves the Abbey's architectural details while also highlighting the social changes of his time. It invites us to reflect on the relationship between artistic creation, industrial progress, and the ever-changing landscape of labor and leisure.