The Boulevards at Paris
May–June 1843
Medium
Salted paper print from paper negative
Dimensions
15.1 x 19.9 cm (5 15/16 x 7 13/16 in. )
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.609
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the bustling heart of 1840s Paris with *The Boulevards at Paris*, a pioneering salted paper print by William Henry Fox Talbot, created between May and June 1843. This intimate 15.1 x 19.9 cm image captures the grand architecture and lively streets lined with carriages, offering a rare glimpse into urban life during the era of Napoleon III's transformative boulevards. Talbot, a British inventor and scholar, took this photograph during a trip to France, showcasing the city's elegant buildings and everyday motion against a soft, atmospheric backdrop. As one of the earliest surviving ph...
About the Artist
William Henry Fox Talbot · 1800–1877
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877), a British polymath whose ingenuity transformed visual representation, was born on 11 February 1800 at Melbury House, Dorset, the only child of William Davenport Talbot of Lacock Abbey and Lady Elisabeth Fox Strangways, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Ilchester. His father died shortly after his birth, leaving the family in financial straits until his formidable mo...