Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000348About the Artwork
This view frames the city so that the dome of the chapel of Les Invalides—a retirement home and hospital for military veterans—dominates the skyline. In the 1850s, the light-sensitive coatings for photographic plates were incapable of properly exposing both earth and the sky in a single shot. Marville here set his camera to capture the dramatic sky and clouds, which meant that the city below, for the most part, became a dark mass of undifferentiated buildings. The scale, drama, and majesty of this natural spectacle overwhelm human achievements.
Inscriptions
Written in pencil on recto: "1 [circled] 1 / no5 [boxed] / F [circled]"; in pencil on verso: "5 [circled]"; "#301"
Provenance
?-?: Alain Paviot, Paris, France ?-1989: (Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York, NY) June 29, 1989: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-June 16, 2005). France at the Dawn of Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 24, 2010). Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021). France in the Time of Manet and Morisot. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-August 23, 2026).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879)
- Date
- 1856–57
- Medium
- albumen print from wet collodion negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 15.3 x 21.4 cm (6 x 8 7/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1988.191
More by Charles Marville in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00000348
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