Gustave Le Gray
Mer Méditerranée–Cette–no. 18

ArtistFrench, 1820–1884
CultureFrench
Titles
  • Mer Méditerranée–Cette–no. 18
  • Mediterranean Sea, Sète
Date1857
MediumAlbumen silver print from two glass negatives
DimensionsImage: 12 5/16 × 16 7/16 in. (31.3 × 41.7 cm)
Sheet: 12 5/16 × 16 7/16 in. (31.3 × 41.7 cm)
Mount: 12 3/8 × 17 1/2 in. (31.5 × 44.5 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment, The Manfred Heiting Collection
Object number2004.563
Current Location
The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
Gallery 208
On view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

The dramatic effects of sunlight, clouds, and water in Gustave Le Gray’s seascapes stunned his contemporaries and immediately brought him international recognition. At a time when photographic chemistry was not equally sensitive to all colors of the spectrum, most photographers found it impossible to achieve proper exposure of both landscape and sky in a single picture. Here, Le Gray solved this problem by printing two negatives on a single sheet of paper—one exposed for the sea, the other for the sky, perhaps made on separate occasions or even at different locations. Not only technical tours-de-force, such pictures were unprecedented in their poetic effect.


ProvenanceHarry Lunn Ltd., New York; Manfred Heiting from Mayer & Mayer, December 15, 1989.
Exhibition History"Passionate Vision: Celebrating the Life and Photographic Work of Beaumont Newhall," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Lower Brown Corridor and Coat Check Room Gallery, January 15-May 4, 2008.

“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
Inscribed in pencil, recto, lower right corner of mount: A
Inscribed in pencil, recto, lower left corner of mount: 90:235
Inscribed in black ink, recto, center left side of mount: l'Escaut.
There is no evident signature.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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