Vincent Chevalier
[View of Paris]

CultureFrench
Titles
  • [View of Paris]
Date1840–1841
Place depictedParis, France
MediumDaguerreotype
DimensionsAt opening: 5 7/8 × 8 1/16 in. (15 × 20.5 cm)
Overall: 9 × 11 in. (22.9 × 27.9 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment Fund
Object number2014.256
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

With an entrancing three-dimensionality akin to that of a modern hologram, Vincent Chevalier’s view of the Seine, the Louvre, and the equestrian statue of Henri IV in the heart of Paris is a dazzling example of the earliest photographic process, the daguerreotype. First shown to the public in January 1839 by their inventor, the Romantic painter, showman, and entrepreneur Louis Daguerre, daguerreotypes are one-of-a-kind photographic images on highly polished silver-plated sheets of copper, sensitized with iodine and developed in mercury fumes.


Made little more than a year after Daguerre revealed the secret of his process, Chevalier’s View of Paris is an impressive example of the new medium’s capacity to record the world with astonishing accuracy, including details visible only with magnification. Like many early daguerreotypes, it is laterally reversed, left to right. This rare “whole plate” daguerreotype (the largest standard size) is one of the earliest photographs in the Museum’s collection.


Provenance[Sotheby's, Paris, November 11, 2011, lot 1]; [Daniel Wolf, New York]; [consigned to Hans P. Kraus Jr., Inc., New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2014.
Exhibition History“History of Photography I: Selections from the Museum's Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 1, 2014–February 22, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Chevalier studio label on mount verso

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

L'Océan Bleu
Georges Chevalier
c. 1930
Glass and thread
2004.1139
View from our Window, Place des Vosges, Paris
Grant B. Romer
August 25, 1989
Daguerreotype
2004.1428
Western Lake View
Vincent Colyer
c. 1869–1871
Watercolor on paper
B.97.31
Poolside, Hampton Inn, Harlingen, TX
Paul Vincent Kuntz
March 14, 2016
Inkjet print
2021.469
Hustlers, 42nd Street, New York City
Vincent Cianni
1983, printed 1997
Gelatin silver print
2023.496
Salvo, East 7th Street, NYC
Vincent Cianni
1996
Gelatin silver print
2024.344
Birth of Modern Artist Hero
Vincent Cianni
1983–1984
Gelatin silver prints
2024.351.A-.E
Miraida Martinez Stands in the Shrine...
Paul Vincent Kuntz
1993, printed 1995
Chromogenic print
96.824.20
Miraida Martinez Stands in the Shrine...
Paul Vincent Kuntz
1993, printed 1995
Chromogenic print
96.824.19
Miraida Martinez Stands in the Shrine...
Paul Vincent Kuntz
1994
Gelatin silver print
96.824.17