2-746-439 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Trophy of the Hunt, c. 1867. This rare photograph is from a small group (fewer than ten known negatives) of large-scale still lifes of game and hunting paraphernalia. Printed directly from a 31-x-24-inch glass negative, the photograph provides an abundance of textural information. The complex composition of overlapping forms consists of a rifle, powder horn, game bag, tree branches with leaves, and six fowl, probably three partridges and three pheasants, all tacked to a plain, richly grained wooden wall or door. Braun most likely intended such large-scale photographs to compete aesthetically with paintings of similar subject and composition.