Gezicht op de Kathedraal van Sevilla 1862 - 1876

Curator: Jean Andrieu took this stereo photograph, titled "View of the Cathedral of Seville," sometime between 1862 and 1876. The work provides a cityscape within the landscape tradition, rendered through early photography. Editor: Wow, the cathedral kind of floats there, doesn't it? Like a dream baked in sepia. I wonder what it smelled like, back then. Old stone, surely. Maybe orange blossoms? Curator: That ethereal quality speaks to photography's unique challenges at the time. Its documentary function was often infused with painterly aesthetics—aiming for artistic credibility and grappling with extended exposure times. The decision to showcase Seville's grand cathedral also reflects the 19th-century fascination with monumental architecture as embodiments of history and civic pride. Editor: I bet people posed in front of it feeling oh-so-grand and modern with their bowler hats. Look at the shadows! The texture seems really rich on that tower. It’s sort of humbling to be presented with this frozen moment, decades before color could easily burst onto a photo. Makes one appreciate simplicity, doesn't it? Curator: Precisely. Photography at this time functioned both as artifact and medium, demonstrating technical achievement and simultaneously cementing ideological positions concerning progress, preservation, and power. Representations of monuments served both the interests of civic documentation and reinforced the values attributed to particular aesthetic sensibilities. Editor: I get it! So in its day it's both history and propaganda? Kind of makes one question how we "capture" these things. I wonder how an artist would paint it differently? Curator: An excellent consideration—such queries deepen our understanding of the socio-cultural construction of photography and its inherent power as an interpretative force. Editor: Thanks! Gives me a whole new perspective. Curator: Likewise!