Schilderijengalerij in het paleis van Versailles c. 1860 - 1880

Curator: Looking at this stereoscopic image from somewhere between 1860 and 1880, titled "Schilderijengalerij in het paleis van Versailles" or, "Painting Gallery in the Palace of Versailles," one immediately confronts a stark formal presentation. The artist here is Ernest Eléonor Pierre Lamy, and he has crafted a gelatin-silver print, an unusual choice given the period and subject. Editor: You know, stepping back from the technical bits for a sec—what hits me first is the sheer, almost eerie emptiness of the room. Imagine the echo. It feels like a stage set, ready for history, but currently haunted by only the faintest memory of it. Curator: Precisely! Lamy masterfully plays with depth and perspective in this photograph. Note the repetition of horizontal lines—the benches, the lower dado, the picture rails, the ceiling cornice—which serve to draw the eye further into the receding space, underlining that dramatic one-point perspective and creating a distinct impression of imperial grandeur rendered sterile. Editor: It’s funny, isn’t it? He captures what feels like Romantic paintings with sharp focus—genre-painting really comes alive here. Then boxes it up nice and tidy using this gelatin-silver process; history in a glass box you might say. Does that make sense? Like trapping ghosts using new technologies... Curator: It’s a tension certainly, and it seems intended. This work seems more concerned with portraying a moment _of_ observing art and not merely offering representations _as_ art. The medium itself lends a hyper-realistic quality that underscores the paradox of documenting such a heavily constructed and staged historical space through photography, especially with the use of stereoscopy giving it that extra depth. The "reality" we perceive is triply mediated – by painting, architecture, and photography, with the latter two seemingly attempting to simply record an art object in that physical setting. Editor: All these receding rectangles…it gets at something about time, about trying to freeze or hold these grand historical gestures that have long since dissipated. Well, Ernest Lamy has given me plenty to consider—the layers are just beautiful. Curator: A moment indeed worth our reflection. Thank you.