Treasury of Reims Cathedral
c. 1854
Medium
salted paper print
Dimensions
23.1 × 34.5 cm (9 1/8 × 13 9/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund
Accession Number
2014.175.1
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the National Gallery of, where Charles Marville's *Treasury of Reims Cathedral* (c. 1854) offers a captivating glimpse into 19th-century France. Marville, Paris's official photographer from 1851 to 1879, was renowned for his meticulous documentation of historic architecture before urban transformations. Here, he turns his lens to the opulent treasury of Reims Cathedral—a Gothic masterpiece famed for crowning French kings, including Charles VII in the presence of Joan of Arc. salted paper print, measuring 23.1 × 34.5 cm, immortalizes the sacred space's intricate reliquaries, goldwork...
About the Artist
Charles Marville · 1813–1879
**Charles Marville**, born Charles François Bossu on July 17, 1813, in Paris, adopted his professional pseudonym around 1832 to avoid the stigma of "bossu," meaning hunchback in French. Trained as a painter, engraver, and illustrator, he spent nearly two decades producing woodblock illustrations for books and magazines before embracing photography around 1850. His transition coincided with the med...