Photographs
Photographs
Charles Nègre
The Salute to the Emperor (Imperial Asylum at Vincennes, 15 August)
Lot Closed
April 7, 04:50 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Charles Nègre
1820 - 1880
The Salute to the Emperor (Imperial Asylum at Vincennes, 15 August)
large-format oval albumen print from wet plate negative, mounted, mounted again to larger card, 1859
image: 12 ⅞ by 17 ¼ in. (32.7 by 43.8 cm.)
overall: 18 ⅜ by 23 in. (46.7 by 58.4 cm.)
Collection of the photographer's family, Grasse, France
Galerie Françoise Paviot, Paris
Françoise Heilbrun, Charles Nègre: Das Photographische Werk: 1820-1880 (Munich, 1998), no. 36, p. 32
73 Photographs from David and Mary Robinson at The National Gallery of Art (San Francisco, 2007), pl. 9
In May 1859, Charles Nègre was commissioned to make a photographic album of the new Imperial Asylum at Vincennes. Established by Napoleon III and located on the outskirts of Paris in a former royal park, the mission of the hospital was to provide the same level of care to workmen injured on the construction site or in a factory as that given to French military veterans. The present image of the inauguration ceremony in August 1859 appeared as the first plate of this celebratory album. The patients in attendance tip their hats to Napoleon III's bust, as the Emperor was unable to attend the ceremony in person.