Tuin van het Palais-Royal te Parijs c. 1865 - 1875

This albumen print of the Palais-Royal garden in Paris was produced by the Compagnie Photographique Debitte & Hervé sometime in the 19th century. The image captures a carefully designed public space. This garden sits at the heart of a complex with a long and fascinating history, dating back to Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century. Originally intended as a private garden for the aristocracy, after the French Revolution the Palais-Royal became a key site of commercial and social exchange. You would find arcades with shops and restaurants, but also political demonstrations, gambling dens and brothels. What does it mean, then, to produce a neutral, even sanitized, image of this politically charged and socially complex space? In the absence of people, we see an attempt to create a vision of order and tranquility in the heart of a bustling and often turbulent city. To better understand this image, we can consult archival material, photographs, and other historical records to reconstruct the social and political dynamics of the Palais-Royal. This photograph, like all art, is best understood in the context of its production.