Exterieur van Hôtel de Cluny te Parijs before 1856

This small photograph of the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris is by Charles Nègre and was made in the mid-nineteenth century. Nègre was working at a time when photography was emerging as both a scientific tool and an artistic medium. What strikes me is how this image captures a moment of transition. The Hôtel de Cluny, a relic of medieval Paris, is rendered with the clarity and precision that only photography could offer, yet it's presented in the form of a helio-engraving, a printing process that combines photography with traditional etching. The image becomes a document of not only the building but also of the rapidly evolving technologies of representation in nineteenth-century France. The choice to photograph a medieval building is also telling. As Paris modernized, there was a growing interest in preserving the city's past. Nègre’s photograph serves as a kind of preservation, holding onto something as it faces erasure. This image makes us consider our relationship to history and the role of art in shaping how we remember.