Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève near the Intersection of Rue LaPlace (Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève prés de carrefour de la rue LaPlace)
1865/69
Medium
Albumen print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 31.6 × 26.9 cm (12 1/2 × 10 5/8 in.); First mount: 38.7 × 33.4 cm (15 1/4 × 13 3/16 in.); Secondary support: 60 × 42.8 cm (23 3/4 × 16 7/8 in.)
Classification
albumen print from collodion negative
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
181558
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Beginning in 1862, Charles Marville served as the official photographer of the city of Paris, documenting the radical reconstruction of the city under Napoleon III's Prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann. In a process that became known as Haussmannization, many of Paris's narrow medieval streets were demolished in order to make room for the wide boulevards and public parks for which it is now known. The city commissioned Marville to photograph the areas slated for destruction as well as...
About the Artist
Charles Marville · 1813–1879
**Charles Marville**, born Charles François Bossu on July 17, 1813, in Paris, adopted his professional pseudonym around 1832 to avoid the stigma of "bossu," meaning hunchback in French. Trained as a painter, engraver, and illustrator, he spent nearly two decades producing woodblock illustrations for books and magazines before embracing photography around 1850. His transition coincided with the med...