The Great Exhibition, 1851: Youth at a Stream by Foley

Photograph of a plaster statue of a naked male figure, wearing a fig leaf, depicted in the process of stepping into a stream. His right foot is extended and is just about to touch the water. He stretches out his right arm to cling to a tree trunk behind him.  The sculpture by John Henry Foley (1818-74) was exhibited at the Great Exhibition.

This photograph is from Volume IV (RCIN 2800003) of ' Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851: Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided'. The incredibly successful Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, commonly known as the Great Exhibition, ran from May to October 1851. At the exhibition's conclusion, over 100 copies of the four volume 'Reports by the Juries' were distributed to foreign governments and notable participants. The reports consist of the juries' comments and assessments of the works displayed in the exhibition. The idea and decision to illustrate the reports with photographs is attributed to Prince Albert (1819-61).