Albumen print, from a collodion negative 7 5/8 in x 8 3/4 in.
Archive Farms The Patrick Montgomery Collection, Object No. 2013.449
Louis Pierre Théophile Dubois de Nehaut (1799-1872) was a judge in Lille who, after retiring in 1851, moved to Brussels and took up photography. He became interested in producing instantaneous pictures using wet collodion negatives. In July 1856 he made photographs of the jubilee celebration of King Leopold I which he exhibited at the Exposition des Arts Industriels in Brussels. Looking to repeat this success he traveled to Paris in June 1857 to photograph the review of the Imperial Guard at the Bois de Boulogne. Though made difficult because the review did not start until 5.p.m, he was able to capture thirty images of the event which he sent to the Société Française de Photographie for exhibition later that year.