Portret van een jonge vrouw

1868

Alaska: a government commission

In 1868 the United States government commissioned Muybridge to travel to the newly acquired territory of Alaska to photograph the Tlingit people, occasional Russian inhabitants and dramatic landscapes.

1868

An exhibition of large Yosemite photographs and a subscription series

In 1868 Muybridge exhibited large photographs of Yosemite Valley and began selling popular stereographs; in February he announced a subscription series of 20 retouched pictures, and twenty original photographs (possibly the same) illustrated John S. Hittel’s guide book “Yosemite: Its Wonders and Its Beauties”.

20 May 1871

Marries 21-year-old Flora Shallcross Stone

The 41-year-old Muybridge married 21-year-old divorcée Flora Shallcross Stone (née Downs); the differences in their tastes were put down to the age gap, and his habit of leaving home for days, weeks or months on projects did not change after the marriage.

1872

Leland Stanford hires Muybridge

Leland Stanford, former governor of California, businessman and race-horse owner, hired Muybridge for a portfolio of his mansion and possessions, including his racehorse Occident, and wanted a proper picture of the horse at full speed. Stories of a $25,000 bet have no evidence behind them, but Stanford is estimated to have spent about $50,000 funding the investigations.

17 October 1874

Shoots Harry Larkyns at Calistoga

On 17 October 1874 Muybridge went to Calistoga and shot Larkyns at point-blank range, saying he had a message for him from his wife; Larkyns died that night, and Muybridge was arrested without protest and put in the Napa jail.

February 1875

The murder trial: Muybridge is acquitted

Muybridge was tried for murder in February 1875; Stanford had arranged his defence, and the attorney W. W. Pendegast pleaded insanity because of the head injury of 1860, although the defendant himself indicated that his actions had been deliberate. The jury acquitted him as having committed justifiable homicide, explaining that if the verdict was not in accordance with the law, it was in accordance with the law of human nature.