Gipsmodel voor versiering boven deuren van het Palais du Louvre door Jean-Pierre Hurpin en Marie Etienne Cousseau c. 1855 - 1857

Edouard Baldus produced this photograph of a plaster cast for door ornamentation at the Louvre Palace at an unknown date. Consider the Louvre: Originally a fortress, it evolved into a royal palace, and eventually became one of the world’s most renowned museums. Baldus' photograph captures a fragment intended to adorn this powerful symbol of French royalty and culture. Note the iconography. The crowned emblem of the French monarchy is held aloft by a classical allegorical figure. This visual language speaks to the cultural and political values that the Louvre embodied. What’s interesting is how photography, itself a relatively new medium at the time, was used to document and disseminate these traditional forms of art and power. This photograph offers us a glimpse into the complex interplay between art, power, and representation in 19th-century France. To fully understand this image, archival research into the Louvre’s architectural history, the biographies of the sculptors, and the role of photography in documenting art and architecture would be invaluable.