Gustave Le Gray

albumen print, mounted, 1857

Lunn Ltd., New York/Paris

Monterey Museum of Art, Passion and Precision: Photographs from the Collection of Margaret W. Weston, 2003

Grading this albumen print on a scale of 1 to 10--a 10 being an albumen print with deep brown dark tones and highlights that retain all of their original detail--this print rates a 9. In raking light, small areas where the print has been lightly rubbed and a number of very small surface scratches are visible in the sky area. Visible upon close examination is a small, 2mm, circular deposit of original retouching in a tent on the left side of the image. The photograph is mounted to a heavy board that is light blue on the front and cream colored on the reverse. The front of the mount is lightly faded and age-darkened at the edges. The back of the mount has light surface soiling overall. The mount corners are lightly bumped.
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From August to October of 1857, during a six-week period, Le Gray was commissioned to photograph the assembly of 25,000 men from the French Imperial Guard.  The soldiers had been brought together to inaugurate a new military camp in northeastern France at Châlons-sur-Marne, created by order of Napoleon as a training ground for the French army.  During the initial months at the camp, Napoleon's most elite forces were gathered to conduct complex and elaborate defensive exercises.  The men of the camp lived simply; the tents in the present photograph offer a view of the living and working quarters of the guard.  Le Gray photographed a myriad of activity at Châlons, including the inaugural events and the maneuvers of the Guard, as well as the daily life of the camp and its officers.