Amiens, Notre Dame Cathedrale, Typanum

Artist Henri Jean-Louis Le Secq (French, 1818-1882)

CultureFrench

Date1852

MediumSalted paper print from waxed paper negative

DimensionsOverall, Image: 13 5/16 × 9 5/8 in. (33.8 × 24.4 cm)
Overall, Support: 18 1/4 × 12 7/8 in. (46.4 × 32.7 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)

InscribedSigned, titled, and dated in the negative: "h. Le Secq Amiens 1852." LL, under photograph: "Tympan de La porte laterale a la Vierge" LR: "no 227"

Credit LineMuseum purchase, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Photography Endowment and Art Purchase Funds

Object number96.13.1

Not on view

Label TextHenri Le Secq (Jean-Louis-Henri Le Secq Des Tournelles) French (1818-1882) Amiens, Notre Dame Cathedrale, Typanum, 1852 Salted paper print from waxed paper negative Purchase, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Photography and Art Purchase Funds 96.13.1 Henri Le Secq regularly exhibited his paintings at the Paris Salon between 1842 and 1880. He studied painting in the atelier of Paul Delaroche where, in the late 1840s, he learned photography from another student, Gustave Le Gray. In the 1850s and 1860s Le Secq exhibited his photographs widely and achieved a reputation as an important photographer of architecture. In the early 1850s, the Commission des Monuments Historiques employed Le Secq and four other photographers to document the medieval and ancient architecture of France. Le Secq's photography concentrated on the cathedrals at Amiens, Rhiems, Strasbourg, and Chartres. Le Secq made this photograph of Amiens' famous portal of the Madonna in 1852. Ostensibly, his images were made to document the structures. But, because of his photographic skill and understanding of architecture, he was able to turn simple documentation into works of art.Exhibition History"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25, 1996 - March 2, 1997 "History of Photography," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, Fall, 2001.