Unidentified photographer
1855 (ca)
Lyon River View
Daguerreotype, 1/4 plateChristopher Wahren Fine PhotographsCourtesy of Christopher Wahren Fine Photographs (hb16)
Resealed with modern glass, in the original veneered wood frame and gilt-and-felt mat. Overall dimensions with frame 6 x 7.5 inches (15x19 cm).
Majestic and crisp, this gemlike image was found housed in its daguerreian-era frame, which is unusually ornate, and provides the piece with a brilliant setting. Plate colors are attractive and turn to pink at some angles of lighting.
The location and topic of this image have been identified from a similar view in the Stephan Richter collection. Visible at intervals across the river Rh¶ne are pillars still under construction which served as supports for a new Saint-Clair Bridge, built to replace a earlier bridge damaged during high water in 1854. A pump-house with smoke-stack visible at left was constructed in 1853. Likely conceived to document the bridge's construction, this plate simultaneously captures an unobstructed view of the river which must have been short-lived. (See Richter, The Art of the Daguerreotype (1989), 118-9.)
LL/13000
