[South Portal, Chartres Cathedral]

Charles Marville

1854 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

The deep shadows framing this doorway at Chartres create spatial depth and draw the viewer’s gaze toward a tiny detail: a small lamp hanging in the center of the open doorway. Marville’s keen ability to harness the play of light, especially against three-dimensional surfaces, made him a sought-after photographer of architecture and sculpture. This print was formerly in the collection of the sculptor Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume, who contributed to the restoration of Chartres in the 1850s and frequently hired Marville to photograph his work.

Artist

Charles Marville

Date

1854

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, Jennifer and Joseph Duke Gift and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2000