Gezicht op de Montaña de Guajara op Tenerife 1856

This photograph of the Montaña de Guajara in Tenerife was made by Charles Piazzi Smyth, most likely in the 19th century. At the time, the field of photography was largely in the hands of the wealthy, who had the capital to buy the special equipment needed for the wet collodion process that was used to make this print. Smyth was an astronomer who headed up an expedition to Tenerife in 1856 to conduct astronomical experiments at high altitude, and it is likely that this print was created in the context of this scientific work. He made the photograph as part of a report on the atmospheric conditions on the island. The dry, mountainous landscape tells us about the geographical specificity of Tenerife. The print represents a particular moment in the colonial and scientific history of the island. To find out more about the photograph we would need to consider institutional archives, letters, and travel journals.