[The 15th of August. Imperial Asylum at Vincennes]

Charles Nègre

1858 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

The Imperial Asylum at Vincennes, in a former royal park at the eastern end of Paris, was established by Napoleon III to provide those injured on the construction site or in the factory-"the worker's true field of honor," in the words of the minister of the interior-with care comparable to that given to the nation's military veterans. Nègre was commissioned to photograph the new hospital and to produce copies of a celebratory album in which this photograph appeared as the first plate. Here, the convalescing patients doff their hats to their benefactor, whose sculpted surrogate is the focus of the picture.

Artist

Charles Nègre

Date

1858

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005