Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00012926Versailles, Chaste Venus
About the Artwork
During the first quarter of the 20th century, Eugène Atget photographed the French urban experience. Periodically, from 1901 to 1926, Atget was particularly attracted to the grounds and gardens at the palace of Versailles, photographing its walks, fountains, and statues during different seasons. An eerie silence and mysteriousness frequently suffuses his images, as it does in this haunting photograph of Antoine Coysevox's bronze sculpture of Venus, positioned on a raised plinth facing the palace's garden facade. With the placement of his camera, Atget brought a carefully ordered harmony to the composition through the alignment of various architectural and sculptural elements.
Inscriptions
Written in pencil on verso: "Versailles 1203"; scratched into negative: "1503 [sic]"
Provenance
Estate of Eugène Atget; Julien Levy Collection
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).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Eugène Atget (French, 1857–1927)
- Date
- 1922–1923
- Medium
- albumen print, gold toned
- Dimensions
- Image: 18.1 x 22.6 cm (7 1/8 x 8 7/8 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1985.113
More by Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00012926
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