The Erechtheum, west entrance (L’Erechthéum, portique oriental), from L’Acropole d’Athènes

Artist Jean Baptiste Eugène Piot (French, 1812 - 1890)

CultureFrench

Date1852

MediumSalted paper print from paper negative

DimensionsOverall, Image: 8 15/16 × 12 15/16 in. (22.7 × 32.9 cm)
Overall, Support: 14 1/8 × 20 3/4 in. (35.9 × 52.7 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
Overall, Frame: 21 1/4 × 25 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (54 × 64.1 × 3.2 cm)

InscribedThe following is printed on the mount. Centered above the print is: L'ACROPOLE D'ATHENES. Centered below the print is: L'ERECHTHEUM / Portique oriental. Directly underneath the photograph on the left and right sides is: EUG. PIOT FECIT ET EXCUDIT, 1852. Lower left is: Paris L'AUTEUR Rue St. Fiacre, 20

Credit LineMuseum purchase in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank

Object number97.47.2

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 228

DescriptionThis is a salted paper print mounted on its original board. It depicts the Erechtheum.

Label TextJean-Baptiste Eugène Piot French, 1812–1890 The Erechtheum, West Entrance, from the album, L’Acropole d’Athènes, 1852 Salted paper print from paper negative An avid collector of Renaissance and medieval art, Piot first turned to daguerreotype on a trip to Spain with poet Théophile Gautier in 1840. After exhausting his funds, he studied paper negative photography with Gustave Le Gray and produced an album of Italian views in 1849–51. In 1852 he continued to Athens, where he moved to the edge of the Acropolis to focus on the east colonnade of the Erechtheum, with the famed caryatid porch in the midground. The Ministry of Fine Arts commissioned twenty copies of the resulting two albums devoted to Greek archaeological subjects. Museum purchase in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 97.47.2 Exhibition History"New Frames of Reference: Early French Photographers at Home and Abroad," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, gallery 228, September 5, 2024 - February 16, 2025. "Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004.