The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Sky Study, Paris

Sky Study, Paris

1856–57
(French, 1813–1879)
France, 19th century
albumen print from wet collodion negative
Image: 15.3 x 21.4 cm (6 x 8 7/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1988.191
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Charles Marville made this view of Paris from his apartment.

Description

Marville framed the city so that the dome at Les Invalides—a retirement home and hospital for military veterans—dominates the skyline. Below lie dark, dense neighborhoods where individual buildings are barely discernable. Photographing skies in landscapes was challenging in the 1850s: the light-sensitive coatings were incapable of properly exposing both earth and the heavens in a single shot. There is no doubt that Marville’s interest here was the sky—the magnificent massing of clouds that momentarily eclipses the sun. The scale, drama, and majesty of this short-lived natural spectacle overwhelms human achievements.
  • ?-?
    Alain Paviot, Paris, France
    ?-1989
    (Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York, NY)
    June 29, 1989
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 231
  • Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    France at the Dawn of Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 24, 2010).
    Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-June 16, 2005).
    Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997).
    The World Seen Anew: English and French Photographs of the 1850s. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 29-August 26, 1990).
    Etudes de Ciels. Galerie Octant, Paris, France (November 3-December 22, 1978).
  • {{cite web|title=Sky Study, Paris|url=false|author=Charles Marville|year=1856–57|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1988.191