Dolmen, Cap del Puetch, Ariège, France

c. 1865–69

Arthur A. Taylor

(French, active 1850–d. 1873)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

G. Arosa et Cie process print from waxed paper negative

Measurements

Image: 33.1 x 24.7 cm (13 1/16 x 9 3/4 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 1995.237

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Location

Not on view

Description

A British-born photographer, Taylor lived in Marseille and became a member of the Société Française de Photographie in 1860. Taking photographs in city parks and the surrounding countryside, as well as in Ariège and Seine-et-Oise, he often worked with the establishment G. Arosa et Cie in Saint-Cloud to produce his ink-based prints made from photographs according to the publisher’s unique process. This print is likely made from a shellac base, for Taylor wrote several articles for British and American photographic journals on a shellac printing process in 1866 and 1867. After printing, the images would be mounted onto a heavy card stock and sold to be collected in albums. Here, the subject, a dolmen, or Neolithic tomb, reflects 19th-century interest in distant history and early monuments.