Afgietsel van een kapiteel met bladmotief als in de Kathedraal van Reims 1850 - 1900

Editor: This photograph, taken sometime between 1850 and 1900 by Adolphe Giraudon, depicts a cast of a capital with leaf motifs, similar to those in the Reims Cathedral. The textures look fantastic! What’s your perspective on this? Curator: Well, looking at the photograph as an object itself, the gelatin-silver print serves a specific purpose beyond just documentation. Think about the context of its production. The creation and dissemination of such images played a key role in shaping architectural knowledge. Consider who might have consumed this image – architects, craftsmen, or even other photographers? Editor: So, it's less about the *actual* capital, and more about the *circulation* of its image and the knowledge it carries? Curator: Precisely. The photograph mediates our relationship to the original. The photographic process itself, turning three dimensions into two, flattening the ornate carving, demands our attention. The hand of the photographer is key. What choices did Giraudon make about lighting and perspective and why? Editor: That’s a great point! It encourages us to question what labor and processes underpinned its creation in the nineteenth century. So, not only is there the labour of carving the stone for the Cathedral’s capital, but also that of reproducing and disseminating knowledge about it using this new photographic technology. Curator: Exactly. Also the materials are significant: why use gelatin silver? What was that process like, how long did it take? Considering the material realities gives us purchase on the networks of exchange in this period. Editor: I hadn’t considered how the materials used to produce and share the *image* are just as important as the stone it's an image *of.* I’ll certainly look at photography differently now.