Gipsmodellen voor beeldhouwwerken op het Palais du Louvre: "La Chasse" door François Théophile Murgey c. 1855 - 1857

Edouard Baldus captured this image of the plaster models for sculptures at the Palais du Louvre with photography. A triangular pediment is filled with figures from a hunt. The composition shows a balance of classical and romantic elements within the photograph’s formal structure. Baldus masterfully uses light and shadow to accentuate the texture and depth of the plaster models, lending the artwork a sculptural quality even within the two-dimensional medium of photography. This manipulation of light enhances the symbolic weight of the sculptural relief, emphasizing the dynamic tension between the hunter and hunted. Through a semiotic lens, the photograph operates as a sign pointing to the cultural values embedded in classical sculpture, such as heroism and the natural order. The choice of subject, combined with Baldus’s photographic technique, prompts us to question how traditional forms of representation are mediated and transformed through new technologies. This interplay challenges viewers to reconsider fixed notions of art and its cultural significance.