Étude de nuages
1856–57
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negatives
Dimensions
Mount: 12 11/16 in. × 16 15/16 in. (32.3 × 43 cm) Image: 12 5/8 in. × 16 in. (32 × 40.7 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Maurice B. Sendak, 2012
Accession Number
2013.159.39
Art Historical Context
Gustave Le Gray's *Étude de nuages*Study of Clouds), created around 1856–57, captures the fleeting drama of the sky in a masterful albumen silver print from negatives. This 19th-century French photographer and educator revolutionized landscape imagery by isolating atmospheric elements like clouds, producing luminous, ethereal effects that rivaled paintings. Printed on a mount measuring 12 11/16 × 16 15/16 inches, the image itself spans 12 5/8 × 16 inches, showcasing the technical precision of early wet-collodion negatives. Le Gray, a key figure in photography's formative years, taught at Pari...
About the Artist
Gustave Le Gray · 1820–1884
Gustave Le Gray, born on August 30, 1820, in Villiers-le-Bel near Paris to a prosperous merchant family, pursued his artistic ambitions against his parents' wishes for a legal career. As an only child, he trained as a painter in the studios of François-Édouard Picot and Paul Delaroche at the École des Beaux-Arts, exhibiting at the Paris Salons in 1848 and 1853. In 1844, he married Palmira Leonardi...