Rome, Villa Albani, Escalier du Jardin
Artist
Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey
(French, 1804 - 1892)
Date1842
MediumQuarter-plate daguerreotype
Dimensions4 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (11.4 × 8.9 cm)
ClassificationsPhotography
Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank
Object number2018.30
On View
Not on viewLabel Textbottom left Joseph Philibert Girault de Prangey French, 1804–1892 Rome, Villa Albani, Escalier du Jardin, 1842 Daguerreotype Rather than sketch or paint on site, artist Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey made daguerreotypes like this one, having learned the complicated process just after it was invented. At the end of 1841, he set off on a Grand Tour of the Mediterranean, making hundreds of images of historic sites. Here Girault de Prangey depicts the Villa Albani and its display of classical sculpture in one of the earliest photographs of Rome. The Villa’s collection of antiquities was catalogued by Johann Joachim Winkelmann, the first professional art historian, making the image doubly significant. Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 2018.30
