# The Portal of Saint Ursinus at Bourges, rue du Vieux Poirier

- By: Bisson Frères (Auguste-Rosalie Bisson, French, 1826–1900))
- Date: 1854
- Medium: Albumen print
- Classification: Photograph
- Dimensions: Image/paper: 42.6 × 35.3 cm (16 13/16 × 13 15/16 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: The Mary and Leigh Block Endowment Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/60079)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/5e2cd454-b988-40c1-4927-05d5ff946941/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In the early years of photography, landscape studies, architectural views, and studio portraiture were the main focus of the new medium. A photograph such as The Portal of Saint Ursinus at Bourges of 1863 by the Bisson Frères (Bisson Brothers) reveals a widespread interest on the part of the French at that time in their nation's past and in the preservation of historical monuments. Using large-format cameras and glass-plate negatives, the Bissons captured their architectural subjects with exquisite sharpness of detail and purity of light.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0