Railway Bridge over the Lek at Kuilenburg (Culemborg), Johann Heinrich Schönscheidt, 1868

cardboard, h 47.5cm × w 63.8cm More details

Schönscheidt had already photographed the new railway bridge over the Rhine in Cologne, when he was asked to photograph the railway bridge over the River Lek at Kuilenburg. Spanning 150 metres, it was then the longest railway bridge in Europe. It had just been completed in 1868, when this photograph was taken. The cropping, which heightens the perspectival effect of the steel girders, is surprisingly modern.