A striking albumen silver photograph by Charles Marville, the official photographer of Paris during Baron Haussmann's sweeping transformation of the city in the 1870s. At the center stands an ornate cast-iron gas lamp post in the courtyard of the Hôtel de la Marine on the Place de la Concorde — a single elegant object given extraordinary presence against the stone archways and cobblestones of one of Paris's most storied buildings. Marville's meticulous eye for architectural detail and the poetic stillness of the empty courtyard give this image a quiet, timeless dignity. Old Paris, perfectly preserved in sepia.
NGA Collection — Public Domain
A striking albumen silver photograph by Charles Marville, the official photographer of Paris during Baron Haussmann's sweeping transformation of the city in the 1870s. At the center stands an ornate cast-iron gas lamp post in the courtyard of the Hôtel de la Marine on the Place de la Concorde — a single elegant object given extraordinary presence against the stone archways and cobblestones of one of Paris's most storied buildings. Marville's meticulous eye for architectural detail and the poetic stillness of the empty courtyard give this image a quiet, timeless dignity. Old Paris, perfectly preserved in sepia.
NGA Collection — Public Domain
