The Queen's Target

[1] Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert both attended the inaugural meeting of the National Rifle Association held in Wimbledon, on 2 July 1860.

She asked to see the actual target, but since it was made of solid iron, making it difficult to carry, it was decided that Fenton would take a picture of it, which he did.

It seems today an abstract composition, focusing in the circular dark centre of the target, divided by a cross, and with the dent made by the bullet clearly visible in the lower part of its upper right side.

It’s a Jasper Johns a century ahead of its time, and yet still a perfectly factual record of the Queen’s day at a rifle range".

"[5] The National Gallery of Art website states that photographs like this or The Long Walk, Windsor (1860), taken at the same year, "are radically simplified and daringly bold.