Female Peasant Carrying a Basket and Hay

c. 1870

Auguste Giraudon

(French)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

albumen print from wet collodion negative

Measurements

Image: 17.2 x 11.1 cm (6 3/4 x 4 3/8 in.); Mounted: 20.7 x 15.8 cm (8 1/8 x 6 1/4 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 1999.27

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Location

230 Photography

Did You Know?

Auguste Giraudon was an important Parisian publisher of photographs but not a photographer himself.

Description

During the 1870s, Giraudon commissioned one or more artists—probably a French painter who wished to remain anonymous—to create photographs of peasants. Now called Giraudon’s Artist, this photographer was one of the few in the 1800s specializing in rural figure studies created for use by artists. The images were likely taken near Barbizon, a destination popular with artists who wanted to work from nature. The artistry of these images derives from their skillful use of light, ability to render a subject in the landscape, and a perceptive depiction of human dignity.