Charles Willson Peale, Pantheon from Pictures of Ink

This work depicts a detail from Charles Willson Peale's, "The Artist in His Museum" (1822) which is the centerpiece of the Academy's Peale gallery and a treasure of the permanent collection. In order to make this image, Muniz worked in his usual painstaking studio processes. He first laid down ink using an eyedroppper and other tools in a manner that emulates half-tone printing. The original ink layout was done on a much smaller scale, ca. 8 x 10 inches. When Muniz ws satisfied with his rendition of the detail from Peale's painting he photographed the "drawing" and later made enormous prints notable for their extremely high resolution and ability to convince viewers that they are looking at the ink, not the photograph.