Plate 596, 'Animal Locomotion', 'Eagle, trotting, free'

A sequence of photographs taken by Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) in 1884-1885 of a trotting horse. This plate was included in a series of large, bound volumes under the title 'Animal Locomotion; an Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animals Movements, 1872-1885', published in 1887. In 1883, the University of Pennsylvania commissioned Muybridge to produce a photographic study of animal and human movement. Muybridge emigrated to America from Britain and worked as a photographer for several years. He is best known for his photographic studies of animal and human movement, begun in the 1870s. Muybridge also invented the zoopraxiscope, a primitive motion picture device that worked by showing a sequence of still photographs in rapid succession. Muybridge's work had an enormous influence on the world of art. His pioneering work in sequential photography stimulated many inventors to work which led to the invention of cinematography.