Capital, near the Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem (184. Jerusalem, près de la porte de Jaffa. chap.) 1844

This is a daguerreotype by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, titled 'Capital, near the Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem'. The image, rendered in tones of gray and silver, captures a fragment of architectural detail. A Corinthian capital, likely photographed near Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate, dominates the composition. The play of light and shadow across the textured stone gives the image a tactile quality, almost sculptural in its depth. Girault de Prangey’s choice of subject and medium invites us to consider the semiotics of early photography. The daguerreotype, with its sharp detail, mimics the precision of architectural drawing. However, it simultaneously introduces an element of indexicality as the photograph captures the world through a chemical reaction to light, marking time and space. The image challenges traditional ways of seeing and representing architecture. By isolating this capital, Girault de Prangey asks us to contemplate the relationship between the part and the whole, the fragment and the edifice, and to question the stability of historical meanings.