[Scene at Niagara Falls]

about 1855 · Photograph · 14.8 × 18.1 cm

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “[Scene at Niagara Falls]” now? Collection: J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Not on view at present. Checked October 7, 2026.

J. Paul Getty Museum

Los Angeles, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 2 days ago
In this state since: Oct 7, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

In the 1800s Prospect Point at Niagara Falls was a popular destination for travelers in search of a transcendent encounter with nature. The falls were revered as a sacred place that was recognized by the Catholic Church in 1861 as a "pilgrim shrine," where the faithful could contemplate the landscape as an example of divine majesty. Two well-dressed couples are seen from behind as they stand on the shore downstream from the falls, gazing at its majestic splendor. The silhouetted forms--women wearing full skirts and bonnets and carrying umbrellas and men in stovepipe hats--are sharply outlined against the patch of shore and expansive, white foam. Platt D. Babbitt would customarily set up his camera in an open-sided pavilion and photograph groups of tourists admiring the falls without their knowledge, as he appears to have done here. Later he would sell the unsuspecting subjects their daguerreotype likenesses alongside the natural wonder.

J. Paul Getty Museum