Vase, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome (61. Rome Sa. Cecilia (vase))

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey

1842 · Daguerreotype · Photographs

Made in Rome on the first leg of Girault de Prangey's photographic journey through the Eastern Mediterranean, his view of the oversize, kantharos-shaped vase in the courtyard of the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is one of his most original compositions. Girault's low vantage point monumentalizes the large vase, but his decision to photograph it with its handles viewed head-on minimizes its sculptural quality. The resulting picture exists in a compressed and flattened space, which further serves to emphasize the spray of foliage bursting from the mouth of the vase. Girault's Roman sojourn is partially documented in letters written by the director of the French Academy in Rome, which report that the industrious artist had made more than three hundred daguerreotypes by the time he left the city, having photographed "everything that passed" in front of his camera.

Artist

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey

Date

1842

Medium

Daguerreotype

Department

Photographs

Credit line

The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2019