Amiens, la chapelle des Maccabées, au chevet de la cathédrale.

An interesting example of early photographic history by Désiré Lebel (1809 - 1874).
He created a beautiful composition of the chapel in Amiens. Many years after the French Revolution, interest in Gothic and religious architecture arose again in the mid-19th century. Photo pioneers brought these historic buildings back into the spotlight.

Désiré Lebel was an engraver and founder of an art school in Amiens, his birth town. He was also an associate of Eugène Disdéri, in 1857. After a stay in Rome Lebel settled in a studio in Paris near Les Batignolles. They're a composed scenes rooted in a picturesque vision of Italy. These pictures directly inspired paintings that sometimes replicate his photographs. [Dominique De Font-Réaulx, 2009]

Lebel was a master in the collodion process. He used these skills in tandem with Disderi to create perfect reproductions of paintings in the 1855 World's Fair.

Salt print in good condition on original mount with gilt borders.

print ca. 15,8 x 20,3 cm
mount ca. 31,1 x 41,5 cm

Another print of this image is in the collection of Musée d'Orsay, Paris (PHO 2006 2 5 3)
Literature: S. Aubenas, Primitifs De La Photographie, Le calotype en France