Hôtel des Ambassadeurs de Hollande, 47 rue Vieille-du-Temple 1900

Eugène Atget made this photograph of the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs de Hollande in Paris using an early form of photography that created a sepia-toned print. Atget's images documented Paris at a time of great change. He sold his photographs to artists, architects, and libraries for use as source material, and, although he never achieved great fame in his lifetime, his images have become valued for their meticulous record of a lost city. This particular image shows the ornate entrance to a building that once housed foreign dignitaries. The sculptures above the doorway evoke a time when diplomacy was a grand affair, conducted in opulent settings. Atget captured the way that these older aristocratic symbols were being integrated into a rapidly modernizing urban landscape. Historians can learn about the social and political life of a city through careful study of such images. We look for clues in architectural details and urban planning, comparing these visual records with written accounts and institutional records to understand how people lived and interacted with their environment.